Welcome to jthorge's Kitchen

STEAMED HUAT KUEH

2011-10-31T16:09:00.007+08:00

蒸发糕

Ingredients:
500g flour

2 tsp baking powder

1 tsp yeast

300 ml water

6 pcs gula melaka (palm sugar, about 300g)

250-300 ml coconut milk.

Method:

1) Boil the water and sugar and let it cool.

2) Sift in dry ingredients and mix the rest of the ingredients until smooth.

3) Rest for about 30 mins.

4) Steam at very high heat for about 18-20mins for small huat kueh(s).

Kek Hong 吉红

2011-10-15T14:48:00.002+08:00

Ingredients:
700g glutinous rice flour
600g Sugar
800ml Water
1/2 tbsp banana essence
100g cooked rice flour

Method:
Mix glutinous rice flour, sugar, banana essence and water till the sugar dissolves. Pour the mixture into greased baking tins and steam at medium heat for about 20 minutes or till it's cooked through. Leave to cool. Toss in the cooked rice flour and cut into small pieces.

Steamed Tapioca Kueh with shredded coconut

2011-10-15T14:29:00.003+08:00

Ingredients :
1 kg grated Tapioca/cassava
80g Tapioca flour
200 g Cane sugar
400 ml Water
1 pandan leaf
3 pandan leaves
Pinch Of Salt
250 g shredded coconut

Method:
1. Steam shredded coconut, pandan leaves and salt for about 10 minutes, leave aside to cool.
2. Heat the water, cane sugar and pandan leaf till the sugar dissolved, leave aside to cool.
3. In the mixing bowl, mix the grated tapioca, tapioca flour, sugar syrup. Mix well.
3.Transfer into a lightly greased 18 cm round baking tin and steam for about 40 minutes over medium heat or until it's done.
4. Remove the steamed tapioca Kueh from the steamer and leave aside to cool completely before cutting into bite-sized pieces.
5. Cut to desire shape, toss the shredded coconut before serving.

Traditional Butter Cake

2011-10-06T18:25:00.002+08:00

Traditional Butter Cake

8-inch baking tin)

250g Salted Butter

80g Margarine

200g Caster sugar

5 Eggs

260g Plain flour

1 tsp baking powder

2 tbsp Fresh Milk

1/2 tsp Vanilla Essence

Method:

Preheat the oven at 170 deg C for about 15 minutes. Grease the baking tin and line the bottom with a round baking paper.

Using an wooden spatula, cream butter, margarine, caster sugar and vanilla in a medium bowl until light and fluffy. Add eggs, 1 at a time,to combine. Add half the flour. Stir to combine. Add half the milk. Stir to combine. Repeat with remaining flour and milk.

Spread mixture into prepared pan. Bake for 1 hour or until a skewer inserted into the centre comes out clean. Stand in pan for 10 minutes. Turn out onto a wire rack to cool.

Otah Sushi

2011-03-01T12:07:00.001+08:00

2009-04-30T14:06:00.002+08:00

This recipe is so simple and delicious!
Thanks Alix for sharing this wonderful recipe with us. ^-^

Here's the recipe:

Ingredients:

300g Fresh Salmon

3 Fresh Tomatoes (sliced)

Mixed together:

3 tablespoon Mayonaise

1 tablespoon Light Soya Sauce

1 teaspoon Sugar

Method:

Brush the Salmon with Mayonaise mixture.

Placed half of the sliced tomatoes on the baking tray (I wrap it with Aluminium foil) and put the Salmon over it and place the rest of the sliced tomatoes over the Salmon.

Bake in a preheated oven at 200 deg C for about 20 minutes or till the salmon is cooked through.

Rolled Oats Raisins Chocolate Chips Cookies

2009-04-16T08:36:00.001+08:00

Oats and Wheat Cereal with Triple Berry Muffins

2009-04-10T06:47:00.003+08:00

Oats and Wheat Cereal with Triple Berry Muffins

Ingredients:
110g Butter
110g Castor sugar
3 eggs 60ml Fresh Milk
150g Cake Flour
6g baking powder
70g aLive Low Fat Oats and Wheat Cereal with Triple Berry

Method:
Preheat the oven at 180 deg C.
Mix the butter and sugar till creamy and fluffy.
Add eggs and milk and stir gently.
Add cake flour, baking powder and Triple Berry Cereal and mix gently
Fill the mixture into muffin tray or line with papercups
Bake at 180 deg C for 20 minutes or till the skewer inserted comes out clean.
Serve warm or cold.

Stir-fry Sweet Potato Leaves

2009-03-26T13:36:00.003+08:00

Hi, Sorry for not logging in for a while as I was busy with other things.

My mom's "hae bee hiam" is very hot, the ingredients are very basic, ie. dried chillies, chilli padi, dried shrimps and shallots. The "ikan bilis" shown above is added later after I fried the "hae bee hiam" with cooking oil till fragrant. Now ready to use it to fry with any vegetables. For example, long beans, brinjal, cabbage, lady fingers, wing beans, sweet potato leaves and so on..

All time favourite dish. Yummy!

Blueberry and mandarin orange muffin

2009-02-01T10:06:00.003+08:00

We bought a carton of Mandarin Orange for celebrating Chinese New Year. With so many oranges still lying around in the kitchen, I went to look for recipes with orange in it. This is what we had for breakfast. My son likes it very much.

Blueberry Mandarin Orange Muffin

(makes 12)

Dry ingredients:

185g plain flour

1 tsp bicarbonate of soda

1 tsp baking powder

170g castor sugar

1/4 tsp salt

Wet ingredients:

1 egg

125g butter, softened

1/2 cup mandarin orange juice

1 tin (425g) Blueberries in light syrup (drained) or use 125g fresh/frozen blueberries

Method:

Preheat oven to 200 deg C. Mix all the dry ingredients and add in all the wet ingredients and mix lightly. The batter should be lumpy.

Fold in the blueberries. Scoop the batter into a greased muffin tin or line with paper cups in the muffin tray. Filling 2/3 full and bake for 18-20 minutes until cooked and golden. Serve warm or cool on wire rack.

Happy Lunar New Year

2009-01-21T13:04:00.003+08:00

After a long break, finally I'm back in the kitchen and ready to bake more cookies for Chinese New Year which is just a few days ahead.

Last night I pan-fried a packet of Tapioca Flour and 8 pandan leaves (cut and shreded). After about 10 minutes of frying, the flour was left to cool.

Today I made 4 trays of kuih bangkit, my son has eaten about half a tray.

The recipe can be found here.

MILO Chocolate Chips Cookie

2008-12-08T08:00:00.006+08:00

This morning my kitchen was filled with MILO and chocolate aroma... my son quickly went to the kitchen and ate a piece of it and wanted to eat more...

MILO Chocolate Chips Cookie
(makes about 80 cookies)
Adapted from Jam's recipe

Ingredients:
225g butter
150g sugar
1 tsp vanilla essence
1 tsp of cream of tartar
1/2 tsp bicarbonate of soda
1 cup MILO powder
1 egg yolk
165g Hershey's semi-sweet mini chocolate chips
300g self-raising flour

Method:
Mix butter, sugar, vanilla essence, cream of tartar and bicarbonade soda in a mixer till fluffy, add in milo, egg and chocolate chips. Lastly add in the flour. Shape the dough using a teaspoon and bake in preheated oven at 160 deg C for about 15 minutes .

Butter Crunch Cookie

2008-11-06T16:12:00.006+08:00

Firstly, my apology. Please don't be angry with me as I was busy playing games in my facebook. Really!

It's so addictive and I have totally forgotten about my food blog and also not replying to some comments posted here.

Today my daughter asked me if I can bake some cookies for her friends. First thing came to my mind was a Cookie shared by Sri (Thanks for sharing, Sri!), the recipe looks easy. As I bake quite often, I have most of the ingredients, just need to buy one more ingredient, that is "Pecan" nuts.

So this morning I headed to NTUC supermarket, I was very disappointed to find that "Pecan" was missing on the selves. Sigh! No choice! Try another supermarket near my place, that is "Shop n Save", couldn't find "Pecan" nuts, and saw plenty of "Almond" nuts, chopped, sliced, powdered, whole and washed. No choice lor! Decided to replace the "Pecan" with "Almond" nuts.

"Nice! It's so crunchy and taste good." My daughter commented.

This recipe is a keeper. I shall post it here for easy reference.

Butter Crunch Cookie

Recipe taken from Tastes of Home magazine.

Yields : 4 dozen

Recipe shared by Sri

Ingredients:
1 cup butter (2 sticks = 250g), softened

1 cup sugar

1 1/2 cups all purpose flour

1 teaspoon cream of tartar

1 teaspoon baking soda

1/4 teaspoon salt

2 cups cornflakes, lightly crushed

1/2 cup chopped pecans (I replaced it with chopped almonds)

Method:
In a large bowl, cream the butter and sugar until light and fluffy.

Combine the flour, cream of tartar, baking soda and salt;

gradually add to the creamed mixture and mix well.

Stir in the cornflakes and pecans.

Roll into 1 inch balls.

Place 1 inch apart on ungreased baking sheets.

Bake at 350F for 10-12 minutes or until lightly browned.

Cool for 2 minutes before removing to wire racks.

Cheesy Salmon Potato Patties

2008-10-29T11:12:00.005+08:00

Cheesy Salmon Potato Patties

Ingredients:

200g fresh salmon, cooked and mashed

pinch of salt

2 potatoes (about 420g) ~ boiled and mashed

80g grated parmesan cheese

1 small onion, chopped finely

1 tbsp chives, chopped

1 tbsp plain flour

1 egg, lighly beaten

some breadcrumbs for coating

cooking oil for frying

Method:

Mash cooked salmon to paste. Add mashed potato, cheese, chopped onion, chives, flour and mix well, then add an egg to bind. Divide mixture evenly into 10-12 portions and form each into a patty. Coat each patty with breadcrumbs until evenly covered.

Heat the cooking oil in a large frying pan. Put the patties, pressing them down with a spoon to flatten slightly. Cook for 2 minutes on each side until golden. Serve.

Quick and Easy Chicken Curry

2008-10-22T13:38:00.005+08:00

My daughter likes to eat spicy food, especially Curry Chicken. She said this curry is yummy!
So I'm posting the recipe here and hope she can learn to cook her favourite curry when she is older.

Quick & Easy Curry Chicken

Ingredients:
1kg Chicken pieces (I use chicken legs also known as drumsticks)
2 tbsp BABA's brand curry powder (to marinate the chicken and set aside)

1 large red onion (chopped)
2 fresh chillies (chopped)
1 packet Instant Chicken Curry Sauce (240g)
2 large potatoes (peeled, cut into big chunks)
500ml water
200ml Thick Coconut Milk (any brand)
Salt to taste

Method:
Heat the frying pan with 2 tbsp cooking and saute the chopped onions and red chillies till fragrant.
Stir in the instant curry sauce and cook for about 2 minutes.
Transfer it to a large pot together with marinated chicken pieces.
Add 500ml of water and bring to a boil and cook for about 10 minutes.
Add potatoes and coconut milk. Simmer over low heat until the chicken is tender.
(Approx. 20 minutes)
Serve hot with rice.

Carrot cupcakes

2008-10-03T14:13:00.004+08:00

These carrot cupcakes are very moist, soft and yummy. The recipe was adapted from Brenda's Carrot Cake recipe. Thanks Brenda! *wink*

Carrot Cupcake

Ingredients:
250ml vegetable oil (I use 200ml Sunflower oil)
150g brown sugar
3 eggs
500g coarsely grated carrot (I use 300g)
120g coarsely chopped walnuts (I use 50g)
375g self raising flour
1/2 tsp bicarbonate of soda
2 tsp mixed spice (I use 1 tsp cinnamon powder)

(Please take note: I would prefer to follow the original recipe, due to not enough ingredients available, I adjust a bit here and there.)

Method:
1. Preheat oven to 180 degrees C.
2. Sift the flour, bicarbonate of soda and mixed spice together in a bowl.
3. Whisk eggs and sugar till thick and creamy.
4. Fold in the oil lightly. Don't worry if the oil doesn't bind into the mixture at this stage - because it won't. Therefore, you don't need to stir the mixture too long.
5. Fold in the carrot and the walnuts. Again, don't worry if the carrot and walnuts don't get mixed evenly; the mixture still won't bind well until you...
6. Add in the dry ingredients. In this case, add in a few spoonfuls at a time, until the batter is more or less even.
7. Spoon the batter into the paper cups about 2/3 full.
8. Bake in the preheated oven for about 20-25 minutes or till skewer inserted comes out clean.
9. Let the cupcakes cool on the wire rack.

French Toast

2008-10-03T11:16:00.003+08:00

I had this French Toast for breakfast yesterday. It's quite healthy as I don't use butter or cooking oil to cook it.
Here's the recipe.

French Toast

Ingredients:
60ml milk
1/2 tsp vanilla essence
1 egg (55-60g)
1 tsp sugar
2 slices wholemeal bread
cinnamon powder to sprinkle on
fresh fruits for serving

Method:
Place the egg, milk, sugar and vanilla essence into a flat dish, whisk with a fork.
Place the bread into egg mixture and leave 1 -2 minutes.
Heat non-stick pan, place the bread into the pan and allow to brown before turning to brown other side. Sprinkle with cinnamon powder and serve with fresh fruits.

Tea Time

2008-10-03T11:14:00.004+08:00

I have a few recipes of this snack ~ 金堆. I love this yummy snack and will try to make that one of these days. If the recipe is good, I will post it here.

Biskut sarang semut

2008-09-30T13:47:00.004+08:00

Thanks Jam for sharing this delicious recipe.

Biskut sarang semut

Ingredients:
200 g castard flour
100 g plain flour
120 g butter
100 gm sugar
1 egg yolk
1/2 tsp of vanilla essence
chocolate rice for sprinkling on the cookies
paper cups

Method:
1) In a mixer, cream the butter, sugar, egg yolk and vanilla essence till fluffy.

2) Add in the mixture of custard and plain flour which has been sifted first.

3) Chill the dough in the fridge for about 1/2 hour or more, and grate the dough.

4) Spoon the grated dough into paper cup and sprinkle some chocolate rice on top.

5) Bake in preheated oven of 175degrees C for about 15-20 minutes.

Peanut Chocolate Chips Brownies

2008-09-19T11:33:00.004+08:00

I always like to read the "ST" ~ "Mind Your Body" Kitchen section every Thursday. For this issue, there are two Brownies Recipes by CYNTHIA LOW, she suggests making snacks like Brownies. Oh, I always like sweet cakes and brownies. Very sinful snack! I've the ingredients for this recipe, so trying this one today and for the other recipe - "Gooey Chocolate and Walnut Brownies", wait till I have next family or friends gathering. The texture of these "brownies" is crispy on the outside, soft in the inside. Quite fragrant, very nutty, not too sweet.

Click on the image to enlarge.

Here's the recipe, makes about 50 brownies.

Peanut and Chocolate Chips Brownies
by CYNTHIA LOW

Ingredients:
130g butter
160g caster sugar
2 eggs
200g plain flour
1 heaped tsp baking powder
150g roasted unsalted peanuts
100g chocolate chips

Method:
Preheat oven to 180 deg C. Cream the butter and sugar together then add the eggs one at a time beating well after each addition.
Sift the flour and baking powder together then stir into the creamed mixture. Stir in the peanuts and chocolate chips. The mixture will be quite stiff.
Line an oven baking tray with baking paper. Roll tablespoonfuls of the mixture into balls and place on the tray. Slightly flatten the top of each with a fork.
Bake for around 15 to 20 minutes then cool on a wire rack.

Baked Sausage Prata Pastry Rolls

2008-09-12T14:51:00.003+08:00

I bake these mini sausage rolls this morning for breakfast.
The flaky pastry, "Chinatown brand Prata pastry" can be found at most supermarkets.
I use half a packet, 3 pcs of prata (halves), 6 cocktail chicken sausages, an egg for glazing and some vegetable oil for greasing the baking tray. Bake in a preheated oven at 190 deg C, for about 25 minutes or till it turns golden. Serve warm.

Mid Autumn Festival

2008-09-12T14:08:00.005+08:00

I like this Hokkien Mooncake bought from Gin Thye Cake Maker located at 423 Sembawang Road. When I was a kid (in the 70s), my mom used to bring us (me and siblings) to the shop and chit chat with the owner ~ 锦泰 (Gin Thye), sadly he has passed on years ago.

For more than 15 years (not sure the exact figure), I have been buying cakes, 寿桃 (bun made for birthdays), mooncakes, new years goodies from the shop. It brought back many sweet memories. Though the taste is slightly different, we still enjoy eating it.

The Hokkien mooncake above actually filled with crystallised pork fat (now being replaced by 冬瓜糖 ~ winter melon candy).

Last night, we bought a total of $157 mooncakes from the shop. My mom's favourite Ngo Lin (五仁月饼) - five seed Cantonese mooncakes filled with assorted seeds and nuts such as melon and sesame seeds, hazel or cashew nuts, almonds and olive kernels. White lotus paste Mooncakes, Cantonese Mooncake with Tau Sar a pastry filled with a deep maroon, almost black, paste made from mashed red azuki beans. Pek Kor, a complementary sweet made only for mid-autumn festival. Made of glutinous rice flour, it's chewy, slightly floury and sweet, melt to your mouth. 客家米糕 Round Hakka Mooncake -made from glutinous rice flour and sugar pasked tightly into a mould. The floury cake is chewy and quite bland, taste mostly sugar. Also bought two big Durian Snow Skin Mooncakes, a box of 4 medium size salted Tau Sar Mooncakes for my Parents-in-law (my mother-in-law can't take sweet food), one Giant and 20 small Tau Sar Mooncakes and some piggy mooncakes.

Very Yummy Brownies

2008-08-31T17:54:00.003+08:00

Thanks Brenda for sharing her favourite brownie recipe with us. I bake this for a "house-warming" party tonight.

Here's the recipe.

Ingredients:
1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
2/3 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
2 1/4 cups white sugar
1/2 cup chopped pecans
3/4 cup melted butter
4 eggs

Method:
1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C).
2. Grease and flour a 9x13inch baking pan.
3. Mix together flour, baking powder, sugar, cocoa powder and salt. Stir to blend.
4. Mix in 3/4 cup melted butter and 4 eggs.
5. Mix thoroughly. Spread batter evenly into prepared baking pan.
6. Bake for 25 to 30 minutes in preheated oven.
Cool completely in pan before cutting into 2 inch squares.

Horlicks Doggie Cookies

2008-08-29T17:11:00.005+08:00

Today I made fifty-four Horlicks Cookies for my children to eat. The recipe was featured in The Sunday Times, creation of Ms Irene Yip, a trainer at the Chef's Secrets cooking school.

This is so fun! All the cookies look so different. The expression and the shape of the doggies. My daughter said some of them are "fat" and "round". My son ate about 6 cookies and my daughter ate about 8 cookies. They like it very much and so do I.

Horlicks Doggie Cookies

Source: Recipe from Ms Irene Yip, trainer at the Chef's Secrets cooking school.

Ingredients:
180g butter
80g Horlicks (original flavour)
200g top flour
25g cornflour
25g milk powder

Decoration:
100g chocolate chips
Koko Krunch

Note:
I add 1 tablespoon of castor sugar to the recipe and make into a dough.
I use Chocolate rice for the eyes.

Method:
1) Sift the flour, cornflour and milk powder.
2) Cream the butter and Horlicks for 3 minutes at low speed. Do not overbeat.
3) Add the sifted flour and beat for about one minute to form a dough.
4) Divide dough into 10g each. Embed 3 chocolate chips into each piece of dough and roll into a ball.
5) Insert 2 pieces of Koko Krunch to form the ears and 1 chocolate chip as the nose.
6) Bake at 140 degC for about 25 minutes. (I bake at 155 degC for about 15-17 minutes)
7) Cool before storing.

Cupcakes for Teacher's Day

2008-08-28T15:19:00.003+08:00

Just bake these vanilla cupcakes for my daughter's School Form Teacher, Miss Seet. They are going to celebrate Teacher's Day tomorrow morning. The cupcake is soft and yummy! This is a very good recipe and hope you will give it a try.

Billy's Vanilla, Vanilla Cupcakes

(Makes about 30 cupcakes)

Ingredients:
1 3/4 cups cake flour, not self-rising

1 1/4 cups unbleached all-purpose flour (I use Top Flour)

2 cups sugar (I add 1 2/3 cup)

1 tablespoon baking powder

3/4 teaspoon salt

1 cup (2 sticks = 250g) unsalted butter, cut into 1-inch cubes

4 large eggs

1 cup whole milk

1 teaspoon

pure vanilla extract

Method:
1. Preheat oven to 165°C. Line cupcake pans with paper liners; set aside.

In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, combine flours, sugar, baking powder, and salt; mix on low speed until combined. Add butter, mixing until just coated with flour.

2. In a large glass measuring cup, whisk together eggs, milk, and vanilla. With mixer on medium speed, add wet ingredients in 3 parts, scraping down sides of bowl before each addition; beat until ingredients are incorporated but do not over-beat.

3. Divide batter evenly among liners, filling about two-thirds full. Bake, rotating pan halfway through, until a cake tester inserted in the center comes out clean, 17 to 20 minutes.

4. Transfer to a wire rack to cool completely. Repeat process with remaining batter. Once cupcakes have cooled, use a small offset spatula to frost tops of each cupcake. Decorate with sprinkles, if desired. Serve at room temperature.

Billy's Vanilla Buttercream

Colored sprinkles, for decorating (optional)

(Makes enough for 30 cupcakes)

Ingredients:
1 cup (2 sticks = 250g) unsalted butter, room temperature

6 to 8 cups confectioners' sugar (icing sugar)

1/2 cup milk

1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

Method:

1. In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, cream butter until smooth and creamy, 2 to 3 minutes. With mixer on low speed, add 6 cups sugar, milk, and vanilla; mix until light and fluffy. If necessary, gradually add remaining 2 cups sugar to reach desired consistency.

Sugee Cookies

2008-08-22T13:19:00.007+08:00

Recipe shared by Jam (M4M)

Sugee Cookies

(makes about 85 cookies)

Ingredients:

250 butter

150g sugar

1/2 tsp vanilla essence

Sieve together:

200g plain flour

150 semolina

50g ground almonds (or cashew nuts)

Method:

Mix the butter and sugar till creamy.

Add in the vanilla essence follow by the flour, semolina and ground almonds mixture.

Shape the dough anyway you like and bake in the preheated oven at 165 deg C for about 20 - 25 minutes.

Kimchi Pancake

2008-08-22T13:00:00.003+08:00

Kimchi Jeon (Jun)

Ingredients:

1/2 cup of Kimchi, chopped

50g Enoki Mushroom, chopped

1 sprig Chives, chopped

1 sprig Chinese Celery Leaves, chopped

1 cup plain flour

1/2 tsp salt

1 egg

2/3 cup milk

Method:

Beat the egg and add the milk in a mixing bowl.

Stir in the flour and mix all the ingredients above.

Heat the frying pan with a tablespoon of cooking oil.

Pour 2 tablespoon of batter onto the heated pan and use a metal spoon to spread the batter.

Makes three 15-cm round pancakes.

Serve.

Banana Chocolate Chips Muffins

2008-08-22T12:48:00.005+08:00

Ingredients:

1 large banana

1/2 cup milk

1 egg

60g butter or magarine, melted

170g self-raising flour

120g castor sugar

120g chocolate chips (I use white chocolate chips with some dark chocolate chips)

Method:

Mix the egg, milk, melted butter and mashed banana in a bowl.

Add the flour, sugar and chocolate chips and stir gently.

Do not overmix. The batter should be lumpy.

Fill the muffin cups with batter till 2/3 full. Bake in a preheated oven at 180 deg C for 20 minutes or until the muffins are in golden brown. Serve warm or cold.

Baked Oreo Cheesecake

2008-08-14T16:38:00.003+08:00

Source: Recipe from "Kraft"

Ingredients:

Base:
30 pieces of OREO Sandwich Cookies (less the cream), finely grounded
1/4 cup butter, melted

Method:
Line 9x5 -inch baking tin with foil (I use 18 cm round cake tin), with ends of foil extending over sides of tin.
Add butter to the finely grounded Oreo cookies; mix well.
Press firmly onto bottom of prepared pan.

Filling:
16 oz. cream cheese, softened
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 tsp vanilla essence
1/2 cup sour cream
2 eggs
1 cup coarsely chopped Oreo cookies (less cream)
Some Oreo cookies, quarted for decoration

Method:
Preheat oven to 325°F.
Beat cream cheese, sugar and vanilla in large bowl with electric mixer on medium speed until well blended. Add sour cream; mix well.

Add eggs, one at a time, beating just until blended after each addition. Gently stir the chopped cookies into cream cheese batter.

Steam bake for 45 min. or until center is almost set. Cool.

Refrigerate 4 hours , or preferbly overnight before serving.

Chewy Chocolate Chips Cookie

2008-08-13T10:24:00.006+08:00

I always like to make cookies as it's very easy to prepare. I found this Chewy Chocolate Chips Cookie recipe written on my little note book.
Early this morning, around 8am. I took out a block of salted butter (Golden Churn brand) from my fridge and let it soften in room temperature.
My son is in the kitchen with me, he's busy opening the cabinet drawers and played with my trays and whatever he can find in the kitchen.
I measure the flour and sugar and the rest of the ingredients.
Everything is in order, then I preheat the oven at 165 degree C.
At the mean time, I mix the sugar and butter in a large mixing bowl.
Add the eggs and vanilla essence and stir gently. Once the mixture is well mixed, I add in flour with baking soda and chocolate chips and make it into a dough. It's very easy! All I need is a table spoon and scoop the dough and roll it into a ball about the size of a 50 cents coins.
I flatten the balls slightly, and gently. make sure the unbaked cookies is well spread on the baking sheet (I place a piece of baking paper, so I don't have to use flour or grease the tray).
The baked cookies will expand and bigger.

After 16 minutes, the aroma of the chocolate filled the whole house. I rotate the tray while the cookies is still in the oven for about 12 minutes, so that the cookies are evenly baked. I have to do this because my oven is not those built-in type.

Here's the recipe.

Chewy Chocolate Chips Cookies
(makes 60 cookies)

Ingredients:
2 cups plain flour
1/2 tsp bicarbonate of soda

150g salted butter, softened
1 cup light brown sugar
1/2 cup fine sugar
1 tsp vanilla essence
1 egg
1 egg yolk

1/2 cup dark semi-sweet chocolate chips
1/2 cup white chocolate chips

Mix all the ingredients above and bake in a preheated oven at 165 deg C for about 16-18 minutes. Cool the cookies on the wire rack and store in an airtight container.
Serve with cold milk.

Popcorns

2008-07-29T15:38:00.006+08:00

Popcorns

Ingredients:
2 tbsp corn oil
3 tbsp popcorn kernels
3 tbsp honey or maple syrup or melted chocolate or salted butter

Method:
Heat two tablespoons of oil in a cleaned and dry pot over medium heat. Add the corn kernels, cover and cook, shake the pot vigorously (keep tossing the kernels to prevent burnt), until the kernels pop.
Remove from the heat and once there's no poping sound, transfer the popcorns to a large bowl. Drizzle honey over the popcorns and toss through the coating, then set aside.

Curry Chicken

2008-07-29T12:26:00.004+08:00

My mom likes to cook Chicken or Vegetables Curry when we go to her house fortnightly.
As usual, she likes to prepare a lot of "hae bee hiam" (dried shrimps with chillies, chilli padi and shallots). She will also add some candlenuts if she remembers to buy it from the dried food stall at the wet market.

Her original recipe is very simple. She doesn't use ginger, lemongrass and dried spices like Star Aniseeds and Cinnamon Sticks. Her Chicken Curry is unique and very popular in our family.

Fresh grated whole coconut, bought from a Indian stall at dry market.

I boiled the potatoes instead of fried.

Chicken Curry
Modified from my Mom’s recipe

Ingredients:
1kg Chicken piece
5 potatoes, boiled and peeled
1 carrot, peeled and cut into chunks ~ optional
1 packet of fried taupok (fried beancurd, 10 squares) ~ optional
(when we were young, in the 70s, my mom likes to add "fried pig's skin ~ aka bak puay in hokkien" into the curry.)
700ml Coconut milk (can use Kara brand in packet)

Spice Paste:
2 slices Old Ginger 老姜, chopped ~ can use galangal 蓝姜
A handful of Dried Shrimps 虾米, soaked and drained
2 Fresh chilies, seeded & chopped (my mom uses more dried chilies and chili padi)
A handful of Shallots, sliced

3 tbsp Baba’s brand meat curry powder
1 tbsp Chili powder

5 tbsp of cooking oil
1 piece 2-3cm Cinnamon stick
2 pieces Star Aniseeds
1 stalk Lemongrass, bruised, use the white part only
2 sprigs of Curry leaves

Seasoning:
1 tbsp of sugar
Salt to taste

Method:
Prepare the spice paste by putting all the ingredients into a mortar and use pestle to pound into a paste.

Heat oil in a large pot, fry the curry leaves, cinnamon, star aniseeds and lemongrass till fragrant. Add in the spice paste and gently stir-fry until fragrant.
Add in the chicken pieces, stir gently until well coated with the spice paste.

Add in the coconut milk, carrot, stir to mix well and simmer gently until cooked through.

Add cooked potatoes and seasonings to taste and then remove the pot from the heat and allow it to stand for a while before serving. Serve hot with toasted French bread or Steamed hot rice or cooked beehoon (rice vermicelli).

Prawn, Tomatoes and Chives Omelette

2008-07-28T14:58:00.003+08:00

Ingredients:
3 eggs
6 cherry tomatoes
a handful of chopped chives (about 1 cm length)
100g of cooked prawns, shelled
1 tbsp cooking oil

Seasonings:
2 tsp light soya sauce
1/2 tsp sugar

Method:
Beat the eggs in a bowl lightly with seasonings.
Heat the cooking oil in the hot frying pan. Fry the chives and tomatoes for a while. Then pour the beaten eggs over the chives and tomatoes and cook for a few minutes. Turn the heat to low fire. Add the cooked prawns on top. Stir the omelette when the bottom is brown. Serve hot with rice.

Teriyaki Chicken Mid-wings

2008-07-28T14:50:00.003+08:00

This is a very simple dish, goes well with hot rice. Yum! I use teriyaki sauce instead of “烧肉酱”.
The recipe can be found here.

Pie Kia

2008-07-28T14:29:00.002+08:00

"Pie Kia" sounds like "naughty kid" to me. Actually, I think it means “塔仔”.
The pies are very small and delicious! Great for parties! When I saw this "pie kia" featured on the Straits Times some times ago, I was wandering what's the taste of the pie? I saw many different type of mini pies on display. Too many choices, so I picked a few of my favourite fillings like "mushroom", "curry chicken" and "sardines". Then I brought home with four "Pie Kia" and hope my hubby and children will like it.
Once I reached home and ate one of the pie kia(s) ~ the curry flavoured chicken pie which didn't make me feel guilty, as it's very small. It's delicious, I must say. After eaten that, I don't want to make my own pie anymore.
The other three pies were eaten up by my children and hubby.

Where to buy: AMK hub
Price: S$1.50 each

Coconut Cream Agar-Agar

2008-07-18T10:13:00.005+08:00

椰浆菜燕

Coconut Cream Agar-Agar
Ingredients:
7g agar-agar strands
100g granulated sugar
150g coconut cream
1 egg
1/2 tsp vanilla essence
2 3/4 cups (700 ml) water

Method:
Boil the Coconut cream in a pot. When it's boiled, immediately turn off the fire. Whisk the egg into the mixture. Set aside to cool.

Soak the agar-agar stands in the water till softened. Drained and place in a pot filled with water and stir well. Add sugar and vanilla essence and cook further till the sugar has dissolve completely.

Pour agar-agar mixture (using a strainer) into a baking tin, let it cool a bit. Then pour in the coconut cream mixture (strained) over the agar-agar mixture. Refrigerate for 4 hours or until set. Serve cold.

Milo Agar-Agar

2008-07-17T13:55:00.005+08:00

Milo Agar-Agar

Chocolate Layer:
8gm agar-agar strands (soaked in water and drained)
1 3/4 cups water
1/3 cup sugar
3/4 cup MILO powder

To prepare chocolate layer:
Cook agar-agar in water till dissolved Add sugar and MILO, stir well to dissolve sugar; strain. Spoon mixture into a 20 x 20cm square pan or any desired jelly mould. Allow to set, then lightly scratch surface with fork.

Milk Layer:
10gm agar-agar strands (soaked in water and drained)
1 1/2 cups water
1/2 cup sugar
1 cup CARNATION Full Cream Evaporated Milk
a few drops of vanilla essence

To prepare milk layer:
Cook agar-agar in water until dissolved. Add sugar and stir well until dissolved; strain. Stir in CARNATION FuLL Cream Evaporated Milk and essence. Carefully spoon milk layer over chocolate. Chill until set. Serve cold.

Spicy Fried Potato with Coriander

2008-07-17T13:54:00.008+08:00

This dish is very easy to prepare and delicious! My daughter said it's a very good recipe.

This recipe was given by a trainer at the Nee Soon South Community Club. It was an open house and everybody was invited to watch them cooking dishes using potatoes only.

At the end of the session, everybody was given a bag of potatoes to try the recipe at home.

Here's the recipe.

Spicy Potatoes
Recipe by Pauline D Loh
(serves 4)

Ingredients:
2 large potatoes
1 tsp ground turmeric
1 tsp chilli powder
1/4 tsp salt and pepper to taste
1 tbsp Vegetable oil
2 shallots, chopped
Some coriander leaves 芫茜, chopped

Method:
Peel the potatoes and dice in small cubes (I slice it thinly).
Place potatoes into a mixing bowl and add chilli and turmeric powder, salt and pepper. Toss to coat potato cubes completely.
Heat up a non-stick frying pan and add a little oil. Fry shallots and potatoes until brown and cooked through.
Garnish with chopped coriander and serve.

This is very good to eat with plain bread, rice or indian breads such as chapatti or naan.

Note: You can substitute chilli powder with concentrated tomato paste for colour, and not too spicy.

Kee Chang

2008-06-17T10:59:00.004+08:00

This "kee chang" (枧水粽) is very soft and yummy! My sister's Mother-in-law made this. As I don't have syrup to go with it, I use "red sugar" (红糖) instead.

Breakfast Today

2008-06-17T10:27:00.004+08:00

Good morning! This is what I feed my children for breakfast today. The ham and cheese toast is very easy to prepare. As I don't go to Supermarket daily, so I freezed the ham in the freezer. Everytime I will buy about 300g of ham and will split into halves and store them in the freezer.

Kid's Chocolate Chips Muffins

2008-06-10T10:23:00.005+08:00

When my daughter was studying at the school in the morning, I will make and share homemade sandwiches and noodles with my son. Now it's School Holidays, I have to think of what to prepare for my children's breakfast. For the past few days, I've made pancakes, toasted sandwiches, cakes, oats cookies and muffins for breakfast. Today I baked these yummy chocolate chips muffins for everyone at home.

Here's the recipe... enjoy!

Kid's Chocolate Chips Muffins

Ingredients:
1 1/2 cups plain flour
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp bicarbonate of soda
2/3 cup castor sugar
2 eggs
80g salted butter, melted in microwave oven, let it cool
70ml milk
2/3 cup chocolate chips

Method:
Preheat the oven to 170 deg C. Mix all the ingredients in a mixing bowl and fold in lightly. Do not over-mix.
Add in chocolate chips and mix lightly.
Place paper cups in a baking tray and fill each cup to 3/4 full. Bake at 170 deg C for 20 minutes or till the skewer inserted comes out clean, or turns into golden brown. Remove and cool on the wore rack. Serve warm or cold.

Wrapping of "bak chang" ~ 咸肉粽

2008-06-03T19:45:00.010+08:00

Click the image to enlarge.

For so many years, my mom will make about 200 "bak chang" (dumplings) each time.
I started to help her with the wrapping of the dumplings since early 90s. This time my daughter, Sue Jean is helping us with selecting and "counting" the ingredients and put them into a ladle. This helps to save the time of the wrappings. We took the entire day wrapping and cooking of dumplings. It's not for sale, every single dumpling goes to our family members and relatives.

Here's a video of wrapping a "bak chang" ~ rice dumpling.

Daily Blogger Award

2008-05-29T18:46:00.002+08:00

I feel it's time for me to give away an award to my fellow foodie bloggers ~ the “Daily Blogger Award”. This award is to be given to blogs that have at least 3 posts per week. I appreciate their kindness and generousity of sharing their wonderful recipes with us rain or shine.

Here are the first few of many winners:
LEKKER
Happy Homebaker
Little Corner of Mine
My Culinary Journal
Precious Moments
Jen's Kitchen Diary

I present to you the Daily Blogger Award.

Please feel free to distribute this award as you see fit.

Oreo Butter Cake

2008-05-29T12:00:00.010+08:00

Since I have some left-over Plain Yogurt in my fridge, I went to look for recipe which has Yogurt in it. Yes, I have found a few and decided to bake this Oreo Butter Cake, recipe shared by Angie. My daughter likes to eat Oreo cookies very much. So this cake will be one of her favourite cakes. The texture is very soft and moist. Yummy!

I use salted butter, and omit the salt in this recipe. As for the flour, I use Top flour (I bought it to bake Pandan Cake). I use hand power using wooden spoon, whisk and spatula to mix all the ingredients.

Oreo Butter Cake

Ingredients:
225g cake flour (or Top Flour)
1 tsp baking powder
½ tsp baking soda
½ tsp salt
85g unsalted butter, oftened
170g castor sugar
2 eggs, room temperature, beaten
1 cup (240ml) nonfat unsweetened yogurt
1 tsp vanilla essence
80g Oreo cookies, roughly crushed
Whole Oreo cookies, for decorating

Method:
1) Preheat oven to 180 deg C and grease or line a 8-inch round tin.
2) Sift together all the dry ingredients, the flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt.
3) Cream the softened butter and sugar until light and creamy. I use the measuring cup to pour in the beaten eggs gradually, beat for about 2 minutes.
4) Stir in 1/3 of the flour mixture until just combined. Mix in half portion of the yogurt. Then beat in the remaining flour mixture, followed by the remaining yogurt, and vanilla essence. Finally mix in the remaining flour mixture.
5) I put the Oreo cookies in a plastic bag and crush it. Pour the crushed cookies into the batter and mix lightly.
6) Pour into a lightly greased baking tin, arrange whole Oreos on top and bake for about 40 - 50 minutes, till skewer inserted comes out clean.
7) Cool in baking tin for 5 minutes. Remove the cake from the tin and cool completely.

Note: Do not open the oven door to peep when it's baking for the first 15 minutes.

Very Nice Pancake

2008-05-26T08:47:00.012+08:00

This is what we had for breakfast today. My daughter said it's very nice, so I call this pancake ~ "Very Nice Pancake". My son likes to eat it too!

Pancake (American recipe)
makes 8 - 10 pancakes

Ingredients:
1 1/2 cups plain flour
1 egg
1 cup buttermilk
1/2 cup sugar
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp bicarbonate of soda
1/2 cup corn oil

Method:
Mix all ingredients until smooth. Let it rest for 20 minutes.
Heat a non-stick surface skillet over low heat.
Pour the batter by spoonfuls into the hot pan, forming 5-inch circle.
When the edges appear to harden, flip the pancake. It should be light brown.
Cook on the other side till light brown.
Serve with Maple syrup, butter or fresh fruits.

To make Buttermilk = 1 tbsp lemon juice or white/cidar vinegar to a cup of milk.

Orange Butter Cupcake

2008-05-23T10:49:00.009+08:00

Orange Butter Cake
(makes 23 cupcakes)
Recipe shared by jam (M4M parenting forum)

Ingredients A:
200 g flour ~ (sift together with baking powder and milk powder)
1/4 tsp of baking powder
1/2 tbsp of milk powder
250g butter

Whisk all the above in the mixer till creamy and remove into another bowl, wash and dry the mixer to be used again later.

Ingredients B:
5 eggs
175g castor sugar
2 tbsp of orange juice
1 whole orange zest ~ grate and chopped into fine pieces. do not use the white part as this is bitter.

Method:
1) Beat the eggs and sugar using the mixer till the sugar dissolved, then add in the first mixture of flour, butter, baking powder and milk powder. Mix evenly.

2) Add in orange juice and orange zest and mix well.

3) Pour into a greased baking tray and bake in preheated oven at 170 celcious for about 40 minutes.

4) For making cupcakes, the baking time is around 20 minutes.

Chocolate Icing (small quantity)
Ingredients:
1 square of baking chocolate (melted in double-boiler)
2 tbsp butter
2 tbsp milk
1 1/2 cups icing sugar

Method:
Using handwhisk to mix all the ingredients in a mixing bowl until smooth.
Then pipe them on top of the cupcakes.

Pandan Chiffon Cake

2008-05-15T11:32:00.010+08:00

Today I bake this cake again. The last time I'd tried baking this cake was 11 years ago. I remembered, there's an old friend, an old lady told me the tips of making Chiffon Cake. She told me the cake tin must be clean and dry and not oily.

This Pandan Chiffon Cake recipe is shared by Lee Lee (bakingmum), she told me it's a very good recipe. I totally agree with her, the taste is just right, it's so fragrant and the texture is soft and spongy.

Pandan Chiffon Cake
(recipe taken from Prima's website)

Batter:
4 Egg Yolks
50g Castor Sugar
50ml Corn Oil (I use 35ml)
¼ tsp Green Colouring
1 tbsp Pandan Juice (I use a tsp of pandan paste)
100ml Coconut Milk
Pinch of Salt
100g PrimaFlour Top Flour (I use cake flour)
1 tsp Baking Powder

Foam:
5 Egg Whites
¼ tsp Cream of Tartar
50 g Castor Sugar

Method:
Preheat oven to 170°.
Extract pandan juice from finely pounded pandan leaves and add to coconut milk.

Add egg yolk, 50 g sugar, oil, colouring and salt to the coconut mixture. Mix well using hand whisk.

Sift PrimaFlour Top Flour and baking powder and fold into mixture. Mix until smooth. Set aside.

Beat egg whites and tartar at high speed until foamy. Add remaining 50g sugar and beat until stiff.

Add 1/3 beaten egg white to the yolk mixture and mix using a hand whisk.

Slowly fold in this mixture to the remaining 2/3 of beaten egg whites gently.

Pour mixture into an ungreased 18cm chiffon tin (make sure the tin is dry) and bake for about 50 minutes or until cooked.

Turn tin over on a cake rack to cool before loosening cake.

Chicken Pie

2008-05-14T13:42:00.005+08:00

When I pass-by "Polar" bakery shop, I will stop by and buy a few Special Pies and Chicken Pies. I never thought of making a Chicken Pie myself as it's so easy to get it in most shopping malls.

I've kept this recipe in my recipe collection (shared by bakingmum) for many years and have read many good reviews about Lee Lee's Chicken pie recipe.

Today I bake this pie for lunch and my children simply love it and wanted more.
Lee Lee, Thank you for sharing this wonderful recipe with us.
The filling is so tasty and delicious!

I post the recipe here for your convenience.
Chicken Pie

Pastry ingredients:
200g butter
250g plain flour
110g plain yoghurt
1 tsp sugar
1 egg yolk
A pinch of salt

Method:
Put all the ingredients into the mixing bowl except yoghurt, and mix to a crumble. Add in yoghurt and mix to a dough. Dough will be very soft so need to keep it refrigerated for at least 30 mins.

Filling ingredients:
350g (12 oz) potatoes, diced (I use 1 big potato, 300g)
1 big onion, diced
50g mixed vegetable (or more if you like)
Sliced canned mushrooms (amount up to you) ~ I use 1 can
2 chicken breasts, diced
1 tbsp corn starch or potato starch mixed with 2 tbsp water
2 tbsp sugar (I use 2 tsp)
2 tsp salt (I use 1 tsp)
1/2 tsp pepper (I use black pepper)

Method:
Heat about 2 table spoon of oil and fry potatoes with about 125ml (4 fl oz) of water and 1/2 teaspoon of salt and cook until soft. Drain and set aside. In a clean wok, heat 2 tablespoon of oil. Fry the diced onion until transparent. Add mixed vegetable, mushroom and chicken. Fry for a while to break up chicken. Add in potatoes. Add in about 125ml (4 fl oz) of water and cook for abt 5 mins. Add in salt, sugar and pepper. Add in the cornstarch and stir to thicken mixture. Set aside for later use.

The steps for the chicken pie will be as per normal. You can either do big pie or mini pie. Just need to roll out the dough, cut the size required and place in a pie dish. Poke hole on the base using a fork and place ingredients on top. Cut another piece of dough to cover the top. Poke a few more times using fork on the cover of the pie and brush with 1 beaten egg.

Baked in a preheated oven at 180 deg C for 30 minutes.

Optional: You can add hardboiled eggs if you like.

Chewy Rolled Oats Raisins Cookies

2008-05-11T17:09:00.007+08:00

My children like these cookies very much. I found this recipe at "Happy Home Baking". I have modified the recipe slightly to suit my taste.
Chewy Rolled Oats Raisins Cookies

(makes 24 cookies)
Ingredients:
150g plain flour
150g rolled oats
1/2 tsp baking soda
150g light brown sugar
50g raisins
1 egg
125ml corn oil
1 1/2 tbsp milk

Method:
Preheat oven to 180 deg C. Lightly grease a baking sheet.
Mix together flour, oats, baking soda, sugar and raisins in a bowl.
In another bowl, whisk together the egg, oil and milk.

Make a well in the centre of the dry ingredients and pour in the egg mixture. Mix together to form a soft dough.

Place spoonfuls of dough well apart onto the baking sheet.
Bake for about 15 minutes. Transfer cookies to a wire rack to cool completely. Store in an air-tight container.

Bak Chang

2008-05-10T17:17:00.002+08:00

Steps on how to wrap a Rice Dumpling (bak-chang).

Read more about bak chang

Banana Pancakes

2008-05-09T16:39:00.005+08:00

Banana Pancakes

Ingredients:
4 bananas
1 cup plain flour
3/4 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp bicarbonate of baking soda
2 tbsp sugar
3 tbsp milk
1 egg
1/2 tsp salt

Method:
Mashed banana and mix all the ingredients in a mixing bowl. Let it stands for about 20 minutes.

Lightly grease the frying pan with butter. I don't use butter as I'm using Tefal non-stick frying pan. Use low heat to cook the pancakes till all the sides turn light brown (you will see small bubbles on the surface). Turn over the pancakes and cook for a while. Serve warm or cold with maple syrup.

Breakfast Muffins

2008-04-01T08:34:00.005+08:00

These GOLDEN RAISINS CHOCOLATE CHIPS muffins are very yummy! My son likes it very much.
I baked these muffins at 6.30am this morning. You can get the recipe from Allrecipes.com

For easy reference, I post the recipe here. Hope you like it.
Best Ever Muffins (makes 8)
Ingredients:2 cups plain flour
3 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
3/4 cup castor sugar
1 egg
1 cup milk
1/4 cup vegetable oil

I've added the following ingredients into the batter:
2/3cup golden raisins (chopped)
1/3 cup chocolate chips

Method:
Preheat oven to 200 deg C.
Stir together the flour, baking powder, salt and sugar in a large bowl (I prepare this the night before and store it in a plastic and keep in the fridge).

Make a well in the centre. In a small bowl or 2 cup measuring cup, beat egg with a fork. Stir in milk and oil. Pour all at once into the well in the flour mixture. Mix quickly and lightly with a fork until moistened, but do not beat. The batter will be lumpy. Pour the batter into paper lined muffin pan cups.

Variations:
Blueberry Muffins: Add 1 cup fresh blueberries.
Raisin Muffins: Add 1 cup finely chopped raisins.
Date Muffins: Add 1 cup finely chopped dates.
Cheese Muffins: Fold in 1 cup grated sharp yellow cheese.
Bacon Muffins: Fold 1/4 cup crisp cooked bacon, broken into bits.

Bake for 25 minutes, or until golden.

Braised Chicken Wings with Mushrooms and Eggs

2008-03-28T15:11:00.004+08:00

I cook this dish for lunch today. "This is a very delicious food!", that's what my daughter told me. She said the smell is very nice and the taste good too! She gave me a 10/10. :D

She asked for more rice and chicken because she likes it very much. Also my son likes to eat it too!

Here's the recipe.

Serve 3-4 persons

Marinate Ingredients:
16 chicken mid-wings
2 tbsp cooking wine
2 tbsp sesame oil
1 tsp black pepper

Combine all the above ingredients and keep in the fridge for at least half an hour.

Ingredients:
1 thumb size of ginger
1 clove garlic
2 shallots
8 Dried Mushrooms (washed and soak in the water)
4 hard-boiled eggs (boil in water and shelled)

Seasoning Ingredients:
1/2 tsp salt
3 tbsp dark soya sauce
1 tbsp rock sugar
1 tsp coarse sugar (optional)
1/4 tsp five-spice powder

2 cup water

Method:

Put all ingredients in a pot and add 2 cups of water and bring to the boil over medium heat. Partially cover and simmer for 20 minutes or until the wings are tender.

Serve hot with rice.

Nutella Wholemeal Bread Pudding

2008-03-26T15:52:00.005+08:00

I got this recipe from a food magazine (food & travel).

Swirl Chocolate Bread Pudding
Serve 2
Prep Time: 10 minutes
Baking Time: 20 minutes

Ingredients:
4 slices of wholemeal bread, trim the edges
1/2 cup chocolate hazelnut spread (nutella)
1 egg
1 cup evaporated milk (I use low fat Magnolia Milk, 200ml pack)
2 tsp vanilla essence ( I use 1 teaspoon of it)
2 tsp brown sugar
toasted almond flakes for garnishing (very fragrant and crunchy, I put more, Yumm!!) Method:
Spread the chocolate hazelnut spread on the bread, roll it up, then halve it. Place them with the chocolate swirls facing upwards in 2 ramekin bowls.
In a mixing bowl, crack the egg and add in the milk and sugar. Whisk the mixture until pale yellow.
Pour equal amounts of the mixture over the rolled bread in each ramekin and bake in the oven at 175 deg C for 20 minutes.
Remove from oven, sprinkle with some toasted almond flakes on top and serve hot.

Cabbage Rice

2008-03-26T15:33:00.003+08:00

This Cabbage rice (also known as kiam png in hokkien) is very fragrant. I boil the pork belly for a few minutes and rinse it thoroughly with tap water. Cut into strips finely and pan-fry till golden brown. While it's browning, I chopped some shallots, garlics, a tablespoonful of dried shrimps, a bit of ikan bilis (optional) and a thumb size of old ginger. Dish up the golden brown pork strips from the frying pan. Fry the chopped ingredients with heated cooking oil and fry till fragrant (remember to add the garlic later, as it will burn easily).Fry the cabbage (cleaned and cut into big chunks) with chopped ingredients till fragrant, add 1 tsp chicken powder, 1 tablespoon of soya sauce, 1 tablespoon of oyster sauce and a teaspoon of sugar for seasoning. Wash 4 cups of rice and add equal amount of water (4 cups). Stir everything together in a rice cooker and let it cook till done and only serve the rice 15 minutes later when it's cooked through. Remember to use a wooden spoon to stir and mix the rice before serving.
Enjoy!

MeMe

2008-03-26T12:00:00.003+08:00

I've been tagged by Cecily (Chawanmushi) to do this.

1. Name one person who made you laugh last night?
My daughter.

What were you doing at 0800?
Watching Hi-5 with my son.

3. What were you doing 30 minutes ago?
Baking Nutella Bread Pudding.

What happened to you in 2006?
I have given birth my son.

5. What was the last thing you said out loud?
No!

6. How many beverages did you have today?
From 12am till now (noon time), one cup of milo, half cup of coffee and 4 cups of plain water.

7. What color is your hairbrush?
Any hairbrush at home.

What was the last thing you paid for?
2 packet of Chicken Rice.

9. Where were you last night?
At home.

10. What color is your front door?
Wood.

11. Where do you keep your change?
Containers, purse, anywhere in the house.

12. What’s the weather like today?
Fair and cloudy.

13. What’s the best ice-cream flavor?
Vanilla.

14. What excites you?
Food.

15. Do you want to cut your hair?
No.

16. Are you over the age of 25?
Yes.

17. Do you talk a lot?
Depends.

18. Do you watch the O.C.?
No idea what is O.C.

19. Do you know anyone named Steven?
No.

20. Do you make up your own words?
No.

21. Are you a jealous person?
No.

22. Name a friend whose name starts with the letter ‘A’.
Alicia.

23. Name a friend whose name starts with the letter ‘K’.
Karin.

24. Who’s the first person on your received call list?
My hubby.

25. What does the last text message you received say?
Message from hubby (too much wordings, so not typing it out).

26. Do you chew on your straw?
No.

27. Do you have curly hair?
No.

28. Where’s the next place you’re going to?
My daughter's school to fetch her home.

29. Who’s the rudest person in your life?
Never met one and hope not to meet such person in my life..

30. What was the last thing you ate?
Freshly baked Bread Pudding with toasted almonds flakes. YUM!!

31. Will you get married in the future?
No. Because I'm married.

32. What’s the best movie you’ve seen in the past 2 weeks?
Never been to the cinema for a long time.

33. Is there anyone you like right now?
All my family members and friends.

34. When was the last time you did the dishes?
Minutes ago.

35. Are you currently depressed?
No.

36. Did you cry today?
No.

37. Why did you answer and post this?
Cecily tagged me.

38. Tag 5 people who would do this survey.
I need some time to find.

Braised Chicken with Quail eggs

2008-03-08T15:49:00.001+08:00

This is one of my children's favourite one dish meal. It goes well with plain rice.

Quick and easy lunch

2008-03-08T15:47:00.001+08:00

Chicken with mixed vegetables fried rice for lunch.

Marble cupcakes

2008-03-08T15:45:00.003+08:00

These are my children's favourite snack.

Ngor Hiang

2008-02-22T16:26:00.006+08:00

I made these Ngor Hiang today. My son likes it very much. My daughter ate 2 pieces of it and shiny-side up eggs with rice for lunch.
My mum likes to make this Ngor Hiang for Chinese New Year reunion dinner and birthday celebrations.
This is one of her 拿手好菜 ! I remembered my late paternal grand mother (阿婆) liked this dish very much. Many Ngor Hiang recipe I have collected don't use turnip, spring onions and chinese celery. Recently I watched SCV's "Travel and Living at Discovery Channel", the ngor hiang also made of turnips, spring onions, hand-chopped pork belly, flour, eggs and chinese celery etc. I was a bit surprised as it's exactly the same as my moms' recipe.

My mom's Ngor Hiang Recipe I follow this recipe closely, you can use estimation, I only make half of it.

Friendship Ball

2008-02-18T17:18:00.002+08:00

http://cookbakelegacy.blogspot.com/2008/02/friendship-ball.html

Thanks Cecily!

Baked Elbow Macaroni with Cheese

2008-02-12T16:47:00.001+08:00

We were having this pasta for lunch today. My daughter said this is her favourite pasta.

Ingredients:
150g Elbow Macaroni
1 can (294g) Cream of mushroom soup
200ml Water
125g grated Parmesan Cheese
3 slices leg ham (diced)
1 large White Onion (diced)
1 Tomato (diced)
2 tsp Butter

Method:
Bring water to the boil in a pot, adding 1/2 teaspoon butter (or cooking oil) and a tablespoon of salt. Boil the pasta for about 10 minutes until tender. Drain and set aside to cool.

Heat some butter in a frying pan and fry the diced onions until fragrant. Add the ham and tomatoes and stir fry for a minute. Turn off the heat and leave aside to cool.

Heat the can soup with 200ml of water. Place macaroni in an oven proof dish and pour hot soup over to the depth of the dish. Mix onion, tomato and ham mixture with some cheese into the cooked macaroni and mix well. Sprinkle the rest of the cheese over the macaroni mixture. Bake in the oven at 190 deg C for about 10 minutes or until cheese melts and turns golden brown. Serve hot.

Steamed Radish Cake

2008-02-11T14:18:00.000+08:00

Jthorge Steamed Radish Cake

Ingredients:
500g Radish (shredded)
3 dried mushrooms (soak in water till soften)
2 Chinese sausage (chopped finely)
3 shallots (chopped finely)
2 tbsp cooking oil
1 tbsp sesame oil (grease the baking tin)

Mix together:
340g rice flour
3 tbsp corn flour
1.2 litre water

Seasoning:
1 tsp pepper
1 tsp salt (to taste)
1 tbsp sugar

Method:
Boil the radish in 700ml of water till cooked. Heat the wok with cooking oil, sauté shallots, sausage and mushrooms till fragrant (use low fire). Add cooked shredded radish and stir-fry till aromatic.

Mix the flour, seasonings with 500ml of water in a mixing bowl and mix well. Add the flour mixture into the wok and cook under medium heat and stir until the mixture is thicken. Grease the 22cm baking tin with sesame oil.

Pour the mixture into the baking tin and steam at medium heat for about 30 minute or till done. Leave to cool.

Use plastic knife and cut into slices and serve with chilli sauce.

Steamed Yam Cake

2008-02-11T12:44:00.000+08:00

Jthorge's Steamed Yam Cake

Ingredients:
600g fresh yam (300g diced, 300g shredded)
5 tbsp dried shrimps (hae bee)
150g pork belly (boil for about 5 minutes and rinse well, slice thinly)
4 cloves garlics (chopped finely)
3 shallots (chopped finely)
6 tbsp cooking oil

Mix together:
340g rice flour

3 tbsp tapioca flour
1.2 litre water

Seasoning:
1 tbsp chicken stock powder
1 tsp pepper
1 tsp salt (to taste)

Garnish:
1 stalk spring onion
1 red chilli
2 tbsp fried shallots

Method:
Heat the wok, fried pork belly until brown (no oil needed), dish up and set aside. Heat the wok with cooking oil, sauté shallots and garlics till fragrant (use low fire). Add dried shrimps and stir-fry till aromatic.

Mix the flour with water in a mixing bowl and mix well. Add the fried pork belly, yam, flour mixture and seasonings into the wok and cook under low heat and stir until the mixture is thicken. Grease the 22cm baking tin with oil. Pour the mixture into the baking tin and steam at high heat for about 45 minute or till done.

Garnish with some chopped spring onions, chilli and fried shallots and leave to cool. Cut into slices and serve with chilli sauce.

Sealed Pineapple tarts

2008-02-05T15:42:00.000+08:00

Melt-in-your-mouth Pineapple Tarts
makes 150 cookies

Ingredients:
454g Golden Churn Butter (tin)
50g salted butter
750g cake flour
2 egg yolks
50g milk powder
2 tbsp castor sugar
1 tsp vanilla essence
1 kg pineapple paste

Glaze:
2 egg yolk
2 tsp water
a bit of yellow colouring

Method:

Shape the pineapple paste into small balls (about 1.5 cm) and store in the fridge.

Cream the butter and sugar, add egg yolks and vanilla essence and mix well. Add the flour and milk powder and mix lightly. Do not over-mix the dough.

Wrap the paste with pastry and place them on the baking tray, glaze with egg wash and bake at 160 deg C for 20 minutes or till golden. Cool the tarts on the rack before storing in the air-tight container.

Golden Huat Kueh

2008-01-28T15:23:00.000+08:00

恭喜发财。
我蒸了一些金发糕与您分享。我试过这食谱两次，都成功。
这食谱是从“料理美食王”得到的。希望你们会喜欢。
对了，我的两个孩子都爱吃这金发糕。
Picture above: Remove "huat kueh" from the tea-cup when it's cooled. I didn't "greased" the tea-cups, what I did was to make sure the "tea-cups" are being heated before pouring the batter into it and steam.
Picture above shown the actual size of the huat kueh. The palm-size of a 16 months old toddler.

Ingredients:
3/4 cup Corn Kernel (canned)

2 tbsp of chopped chinese celery 芹菜

3 slices of ham (cut into small squares)

1/2 cup castor sugar

1 1/2 cup water (room temperature)

2 tbsp custard powder

1 1/4 tsp baking powder

1/4 tsp bicarbonate of soda

1 cup rice flour

1 1/2 cup cake flour

Method:

Heat the water in the pot with some tea-cups (陶瓷茶杯) in it.

Mix the sugar with water and stir till the sugar has been dissolved. Add cake flour, rice flour, custard powder, baking powder, bicarbonate of soda into the sugar water and mix well. Add corn, ham and chinese celery into the mixture and mix well.

Fill the "hot" tea-cups with batter up to 90% full, and steam at very high heat for 12 -15 minutes or till done.

Golden rules:

1. Do not add too much of bicarbonate of soda as it will give a very bitter taste.

2. The water should be boiling before the steaming of "huat kueh".

3. If using porcelain tea-cups to steam the "huat kueh", make sure it's been heated before adding the batter into tea-cups.

4. Always remember, "A wok is better than a steamer, a small pot is better than a big pot".

5. Do not open the cover and peep the "huat kuehs" within the first 12 minutes.

Jemput-Jemput Pisang

2008-01-21T16:29:00.001+08:00

Banana Fritters (jemput-jemput pisang)

I have 3 very ripe bananas. So I've decided to make these banana fritters for afternoon tea. My daughter likes it very much.
Ingredients:
3 ripe bananas
3 tbsp plain flour
1 1/2 tbsp castor sugar
1/4 tsp salt
Oil for deep-frying

Method:
Lightly mash the bananas in the mixing bowl. Add the rest of the ingredients except the oil into the mixing bowl. Mix well.
Heat the oil and drop a tablespoonfuls of batter into the hot oil and deep-fry in medium heat until golden brown. Serve as snack.

Vanilla Sponge Cupcakes

2008-01-21T16:16:00.001+08:00

This sponge cupcake is very light. It tastes like those steamed egg cakes ~ 鸡蛋蒸糕. My 16 months old son likes to eat it.

Vanilla Sponge Cupcakes
makes 12 cupcakes

Ingredients:
4 eggs
1 tsp vanilla essence
120g castor sugar
2 tbsp water
2 tbsp corn oil
1 tsp ovalette
120g cake flour
1 tsp baking powder
Chocolate chips for toppings (optional)

Method:
Preheat the oven at 170 deg C.
Use an electric mixer to beat the eggs, sugar, vanilla essence till fluffy. Follow by adding the rest of the ingredients gradually and beat till light and fluffy. Spoon the batter into papercups and bake in the preheated oven for about 15-20 minutes or till done.

Kuih Lapis 九层糕

2008-01-16T17:41:00.000+08:00

This recipe was taken from fenying's blog. I did some changes as I don't have fresh pandan leaves and fresh coconut milk. This kuih lapis recipe has been tried and tested by many members at M4M parenting forum. It's highly recommended, should give it a try.

Kuih Lapis

Ingredients A:

220g sugar

150ml water

a bit of pandan paste

Ingredients B:

50g rice flour

50g sago flour

130g tapioca flour

200ml coconut milk (packet)

280ml water

½ tsp salt

¼ tsp vanilla essence

Method:

1) Put Ingredients B into a mixing bowl and mix well.

2) Mix Ingredients A and bring to boil. Pour into Ingredients B and mix well, strain.

3) Divide batter into 2 equal parts. Add red coloring in 1 part.Leave 1 part white

4) Heat up a 16 - 18 cm steaming tray, pour 100g of white mixture into the steaming tray and steam for 5 mins

5) pour 100g of red mixture on top of the white layer and steam for 5 mins

6) Repeat until the last layer, steam for 10 mins

7) Remove, leave to cool completely before using a plastic knife to cut into pieces. Serve.

Stir-fry potatoes with minced meat

2008-01-15T13:29:00.002+08:00

This is one of my daughter's favourite dishes. I cook this dish today for lunch. It goes well with porridge.

Ingredients:

1 large potato

100-150g minced meat

2 cloves garlics

2 shallots

1 tbsp cooking oil

Sauce:

1 tsp dark soya sauce

1 tbsp light soya sauce

1 tsp oyster sauce

1 tsp sugar

1/2 cup of water

Method:

Marinate the minced meat with a little of light soya sauce and pepper.

Heat the wok with cooking oil, fry chopped garlic and shallots till fragrant.

Add the marinated minced meat and fry for a while. Pour in the sauce and bring to boil. Lastly, add sliced potatoes and covered and simmer with low heat till the sauce has been reduced. Serve.

Bergedel ~ Potato Patties

2008-01-08T10:05:00.002+08:00

I made these patties (Bergedel) yesterday for lunch.

Ready to eat.
~ This recipe makes 12 patties

Ingredients:

3 large potatoes

1 can sardines (225g)

1 stalk chinese celery

1 stalk spring onion

1 red chilli

2 shallots

3 eggs

1/2 tsp salt

1/2 tsp ground pepper

4 tbsp cooking oil

Pan-frying...
Use fresh ingredients...

Method:
Remove two sardines' bones and mash well (you can use all 4 sardines from the can). Boil the washed potatoes in a pot of water till cooked. Remove skins and mash the potatoes in a mixing bowl when it's still warm.
Add finely chop shallots, spring onions, chinese celery and red chilli into the mashed potatoes. Add sardines, 2 whole egg plus an egg yolk, salt and pepper into the mixture and mix well. Put an egg white in a small bowl. Wet your hands and mould the patties and dip with some egg white and fry it in a heat up frying pan with heated cooking oil. Use low fire to cook till golden brown.

Long Bean Rice for lunch

2008-01-02T12:43:00.001+08:00

Just cook this "kiam png" aka "cai dao png" (in hokkien, salted rice aka long bean rice) for lunch today. My 15 months old son likes to eat. He opened his mouth "wide" and ate more than 5 teaspoonfuls. I'm very happy! Sue Jean went to school this morning. I'm going to fetch her at 1pm later.

Birthday Cakes

2008-01-02T09:45:00.000+08:00

Happy New Year!
This will be my first post for the year of 2008.
Last Sunday, we had a birthday celebration for my father, who is 74 years old. We ordered the cake from a bakery shop located at Sembawang Road.
The cake below is for me. My hubby bought me this cake from Bengawan Solo for my birthday celebration on 31 Dec. It's "black forest" cake, chocolate sponge cake with blue berries.

BBQ at Costa Sands chalet

2007-12-24T11:00:00.000+08:00

My sister-in-law, Tracy and brother-in-law, Jason rented a chalet at Pasir Ris on 23 Dec 2007. It's a family gathering for Christmas. We had to leave early as our son, Ray Han was tired and sleepy. Here are some photos taken by me. This layered cake is spongy, moist and yummy! It was baked by my sister-in-law, Lian Choo's colleague. This is something new to me. I didn't eat this as I was busy with my son, also I have forgotten all about it. :P My hubby told me it's very yummy! This was prepared by my sister-in-law, Ching Lian.
Not sure where they got this otak-otak from? It's very "hot" and "spicy", everyone likes it.

This "bee-hoon" (rice vermicelli) was fried by me. I manage to take a shot when eaten half-way.

Christmas Star Cookies

2007-12-18T14:48:00.000+08:00

My hubby prefers cookies without sugar coating.

These cookies are quite small. Specially baked for my daughter's friends.

Jasmin from M4M shared this recipe with us. This recipe is taken from a past issue of Donna Hay magazine featuring Christmas treats.

Donna Hay's Star Cookies
Makes 32.

Ingredients:
250g butter, softened
175g castor sugar
2 tsp vanilla extract
1 egg yolk
337g plain flour, sifted
1/2 cup clear sanding sugar ( I use 1000's & 100's)

Method:
1. Preheat the oven to 180C.
2. Place the butter and sugar in an electric mixer and beat until pale and creamy.
3. Add the vanilla and egg yolk and beat well to combine.
4. Add the flour and beat until a smooth dough forms.
5. Divide the dough into four portions and wrap each portion in plastic wrap. Place in the refrigerator for 15 minutes or until dough is firm.
6. Roll out each portion of dough between two sheets of non-stick baking paper until 3mm thick.
7. Remove the baking paper and use a 7cm star-shaped cookie cutter to cut out eight rounds from each sheet.
8. Place the cookies on baking trays lined with baking paper, sprinkle with the clear sanding sugar and bake for 8 minutes or until the cookies are light golden.
9. Cool on wire racks.

Grilled Chicken Wings

2007-12-16T10:17:00.000+08:00

It goes well with fried rice.
Grilling the wings in the oven.
Ready to eat.

I cooked these wings last night for dinner. Everyone in the family likes it, including my 15 months old son. Here's the recipe for you to try.

Barbecued Chicken Wings

Ingredients:
7 chicken wings
1 tsp cooking wine 绍兴酒 or 米酒
1 tsp sesame oil
2 tbsp light soya sauce 酱青
2 tbsp dark soya sauce 酱油
2 tbsp oyster sauce 蚝油
2 tbsp honey or maple syrup
1 tsp pepper

Method:
Combine all the ingredients and marinate the chicken wings for about 2 hours or overnight (keep in the fridge). Grill the chicken wings in the preheated oven at 200 deg C for about 30 minutes or until cooked and golden brown (reduce the temperature to 160 deg C after 20 minutes of cooking). Rotate the tray around in every 10 minutes and flip the chicken wings using a thong or a pair of wooden chopsticks.

Tips: I bought a packet of chicken wings (2 kg) consists of 21 wings in total. I divide them into 3 portions. Wash them thoroughly in running water, drain and put them in 3 plastic bags (2 layers each), that is 7 wings in a plastic bag (2 layers). I put all the ingredients in the bag of wings and shake it. No mess.

I also have two more recipes for BBQ.

BBQ Wings/Meat
Ingredients:
1 kg Chicken Wings/Meat
2 cloves garlic
a thumb sized of ginger
2 tbsp chilli powder
2 tbsp oyster sauce
2 tbsp honey
1 tsp salt

Method:
Grind garlic, ginger to a paste. Add the rest of the ingredients and mix well. Marinade the wings/meat in the fridge for at least 2 hours before barbequing.
----------------
BBQ Prawns/fish
Ingredients:
1 kg prawns/fish
2 tbsp light soya sauce
1 tsp tumeric powder
1 tsp ground black pepper
2 tsp sesame oil
1 tsp salt
Some curry leaves

Method:
Marinade the prawns/fish in the fridge for at least 2 hours before barbequing.

Ways of preparing food

2007-12-14T10:34:00.000+08:00

Ways of preparing food

Aging
A process in which meat is tenderised by keeping it a t temperatures of between 0 deg C and 20 deg C for a period of time. This allows enzymes to break down it's tough connective tissues.

Bouquet Garni
A small bundle of herbs, usually comprising bay leaf, parsley and thyme, used to enhance the flavour of a soup or stew.

Butterfly
To slit a piece of food in half horizontally, cutting it almost through, so that it resembles butterful wings when opened up. Chops, large prawns and fish fillets are often done this way so that they cook more quickly.

Reduction
To cook over very high heat, uncovered, until the liquid is reduced by evaporation. This will enhance the flavour of the food.

Multi-purpose Sambal

2007-12-12T13:01:00.001+08:00

Found this recipe in my old recipe book.

Sambal forever. Make a batch of this to eat with everything -- mee siam, mee rebus, lontong, nasi lemak (add ikan bilis, a.k.a. anchovis) and fried rice. This is the sambal staple of hawkers. It keeps for ages -- up to three months refrigerated, or a year frozen.

Multi-purpose Sambal

Ingredients:
40 dried chillies, soaked in water for 1 hour
15 shallots
40g toasted belacan (shrimp paste)
100g dried shrimps, soaked in water
5 tsps sugar
1 tsp salt
3 tbsps tamarind mixed with 100ml water and strained
80 ml thick coconut milk
8 tbsps cooking oil

Method:
Blend dried chillies, shallots, belacan and dried shrimps in as little water as possible.
Heat oil and saute the blended ingredients over a low flame till aromatic and oil separates.
Add the remaining ingredients and simmer till oil surfaces.
Cool thoroughly before storing. Don't skim off oil from the sambal. The oil helps preserve the sambal.

Marble Cupcakes

2007-12-11T14:21:00.000+08:00

I have this "Marble Cake" recipe for almost 20 years. Thought of baking it today since I have so much baking ingredients in my fridge. keke..

Yay!! I'm so happy! Ray Han likes to eat this cake. All my effort is not wasted. hehe...

The texture of this cake is very soft, not too sweet.
This recipe makes about 12 cupcakes

Marble Cake

Ingredients:
310g cake flour (original recipe call for self-raising flour)
2 tsp baking powder (Omit this if using self-raising flour)
250g salted butter
250g castor sugar
4 eggs (beaten)
45g baking chocolate melted with 1 tbsp milk (I use double-boil method)
1 tbsp cocoa powder (I add this to make it more chocolate flavour)
1/2 tsp vanilla essence
3 tbsp milk

Method:
Cream butter and sugar till light and fluffy.
Add egg mixture gradually, beat well after each addition.
Fold in sifted flour lightly into the mixture.
Add a little milk and vanilla essence and mix well.
Divide mixture into two equal portions.
Add melted chocolate and cocoa powder to one portion.
Scoop a tablespoon of batter into the paper cup, add the chocolate batter over it, repeat the process till all the paper cups filled with 1/2 full of batter.
Use a teaspoon or sharp object to stir the batter in the paper cups lightly, but don't overmix.
Bake in a preheated oven at 170 deg C for about 25 minutes or till the test skewer comes out clean.

Bread Pudding

2007-12-10T11:20:00.001+08:00

Bread Pudding

Ingredients:

6 slices bread

400ml milk

3 eggs

5 tbsp sugar

3 tbsp raisins

50g butter

red and green cherries (optional)

Method:

Cut each slice of bread diagonally into 2 triangles. Spread with butter and bake in the preheated oven for about 5 minutes.

Beat the eggs with sugar, add milk and mix well.

Arrange the bread evenly on the baking tin (I use pyrex bakeware). Sprinkle raisins over the bread. Pour in egg mixture and soak the bread with egg mixture.

Put it into a preheated oven at 180 deg C for about 25 minutes. Serve hot.

Wedding Invitation

2007-12-09T17:02:00.000+08:00

The "kuihs" and "epok epok" are very yummy!
By just looking at this "nasi bryani" makes you drool... all of us love this dish!
My neighbour invited us to their 2nd son's wedding ceremony today. We knew them for about 8 years, they are very friendly people. I have taken some photos of the food we ate to show you.

Funny Home Video

2007-12-06T14:08:00.000+08:00

I laughed when I was filming them. Aiyo! Look at Sue Jean's cheeky face and Ray Han's expression.

Sharing Session on Cupcake Making

2007-11-20T10:16:00.000+08:00

Thanks Brenda for showing us the making of cupcake.

Brenda invited us to her place yesterday to show us "the making of Chocolate Cupcakes". She shared with us many tips (use a pouring cup to fill the muffin cups with batter) and terms about baking of cupcakes. She even showed us the steps of mixing the ingredients and explained to us in detail. I have taken some pictures of her cupcakes to show you.
Look at the colours of the buttercream. So bright and beautiful!

The flower was made of fondant (sugar paste or gum paste).
Brenda measures the ingredients...

The buttercream above looks like a flower. So beautiful!

I'm going to try her recipe myself.

If you want to try it, here's the recipe...

Chocolate Cupcakes

Ingredients:

1 1/3 cups all-purpose flour (plain flour)

1/4 teaspoon bicarbonate of soda

2 teaspoons of baking powder

3/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder

1/8 teaspoon salt

3 tablespoons butter, softened

1 1/3 cups white sugar (fine sugar or castor sugar)

2 eggs (room temperature)

3/4 teaspoon vanilla extract (can use vanilla essence)

1 cup milk (UHT milk or fresh milk)

Method:

1. Preheat the oven to 175 deg C. Line a muffin pan with paper or foil liners.

2. Sift together the flour, baking powder, bicarbonate of soda, cocoa and salt. Set aside.

3. In a large bowl, cream together the butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Add in the eggs one at the time, beating well with each addition, then stir in the vanilla. Add the flour mixture alternately with the milk; beat well.

4. Fill the muffin cups slightly more than half full.

5. Bake for 15 to 17 minutes in the preheated oven, or until a stick inserted into the cake comes out clean.

6. Frost with your favourite frosting when cool.

Chicken Curry

2007-11-17T18:44:00.000+08:00

This Thai Green Curry is "sedap" (delicious)!
Sue Jean prefers this curry, it's not very spicy but yummy!

We had these curry for lunch. *burp*!

You can find both curries at Sun Plaza's Foodcourt, Level 3.

Making of You Tiao ~ Hong Kong Style

2007-11-15T10:24:00.000+08:00

You Tiao

Adapted from Chinese Snacks, Wei-Chuan's Cookbook

makes about 10 seven inch pieces.

Ingredients:

260 g bread flour (about 2 cups)

175 ml water (about 2/3 cup)

1 tsp baking powder

2/3 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp alum

1/2 tsp salt

Directions:

1. Mix water with baking powder, baking soda, alum, and salt until dissolved. Pour this solution in the flour and mix until combined. The mixture will be sticky so make sure to wet your hands periodically to mix.

2. Let this sit for about 30 minutes and gently use your fingers to knead until dough is more elastic.

3. Spray a plastic ziploc bag with oil and place the dough in the bag. Place a heavy object on top to flatten the dough. Let sit for 4 hours.

4. Heat enough oil for deep frying to about 350-375 F. 5. Use scissors to cut a side of the zip loc bag to open. Cut dough in half, and slice each half to ten equal pieces, about 3/4 inch wide. Stack two pieces together and use the back of a knife to press the middle to make an indentation.

White Chocolate Chips Chocolate Cookies

2007-11-14T11:21:00.000+08:00

These crunchy chocolate cookies studded with white chocolate chips is the reverse of many chocolate chips cookies.
This recipe makes 4 dozen. So I freeze half of the dough in the plastic container and scoop out spoonfuls of dough to bake whenever we have a hankering for freshly baked cookies.

Ingredients:
2 cups plain flour
1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa powder (I use Hersley Brand)
1 tsp bicarbonate of soda
250g salted butter
1 cup light brown sugar
1/2 cup castor sugar
2 eggs
100g white chocolate chips (you can add more if you like)

Method:
Cream the butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Add the eggs one at the time, mixing well after each addition.
Sift in the dry ingredients and mix until blended. Stir in the chocolate chips. Refrigerate the dough until firm, about 1-2 hours.
Preheat the oven at 165 deg C. Place a baking paper on the baking sheet or grease the tray with butter. Use a teaspoon to scoop the dough and shape into a round ball. Place the round dough 2 inches apart from each other on the baking sheet and bake for about 12-15 minutes, or until the edges turn crispy.
Let the cookies sit on the baking sheets for a few minutes before lifting them off and cool completely on a wire rack. Store these cookies (cooled) in an airtight container, can keep for 4 to 5 days.

Baked Vegeroni with Bacon and Cheese

2007-11-14T10:58:00.001+08:00

Yesterday I baked this dish again. This time I use bacon instead of fresh chicken meat. Also the "Can Soup" has been replaced with Mushroom Soup without chicken in it. The only seasoning I used for this dish is ground black pepper. No salt added, as the bacon is quite salty.

As for the recipe, you can refer here.

Thai Fried Tang Hoon

2007-11-12T13:52:00.000+08:00

This fried tang-hoon (glass noodle) is delicious! I didn't fry it though. I bought this from a Thai Viet Stall at "Kopitiam" at level 3, Sun Plaza. It's only S$3.60 after a 10 % discount (must use Kopitiam Card for payment). Usual Price is $4.00 which is about the same price as most "zi-char" stalls at coffeeshops.

Next time, I shall fry my version of fried "tanghoon" using the ingredients like Cabbage, large onions, chinese celery, bean sprouts, carrots, eggs, fresh prawns, fresh squids, and "tang-hoon of course.

Cute baby

2007-11-07T11:56:00.000+08:00

How to solve a Rubik's Cube

2007-11-06T16:08:00.000+08:00

Part 1 -

Part 2 - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IW_BBp3FPMQ

How to solve it easily - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lss4rR8N8as

Baked Macaroni with Cheese

2007-11-05T13:56:00.000+08:00

Yummy cheese...

This is our lunch for today. Sue Jean told me she can't wait to eat it.

With some ingredients...
Ready to eat...
Hot and fresh from the oven..

Baked Macaroni and Cheese
Macaroni is children’s favourite dish. The colourful variety makes for a more attractive presentation and green macaroni is often spinach-enriched, making it a useful source of iron.

Serves: 4 people

Ingredients:
150g Vegeroni Spirals Macaroni
1 can (300g) Cream of chicken mushroom soup
300ml Water
125g grated Mozzarella Cheese
150 - 200g Fresh Chicken Breast
1 large White Onion (diced)
1 Tomato (diced)
2 tsp Butter
a pinch of black pepper and salt to taste

Method:
Bring water to the boil in a pot, adding 1/2 teaspoon butter and a tablespoon of salt. Boil the pasta for about 10 minutes until it is tender. Drain and leave aside to cool.

Heat butter in frying pan and fry diced onions until fragrant. Add diced chicken and stir fry for a minute. Add diced tomatoes and season with a dash of pepper and salt. Turn off the heat and leave aside to cool.

Heat the can soup with 1 can (300ml) of water. Place macaroni in oven proof dish and pour hot soup over to the depth of the dish.

Mix onion, tomato and chicken mixture into the cooked macaroni and mix well. Sprinkle cheese over the macaroni mixture with a generous sprinkle of black pepper.

Bake in the oven at 190 deg C for about 10 minutes or until cheese melts and turns a golden brown. Serve warm.

Soft and Moist Banana Cake

2007-11-02T14:50:00.000+08:00

Freshly Baked Soft and Moist Banana Cake.
Ready to eat...
The texture from the cuppies...
Small cuppies...
The texture from the loaf...

I have come out with this recipe, I did an experiment, by adding a little milk and extra butter, the cake will become a little moist and soft. The rest of the ingredients are quite similar to most of the banana cake recipes. The amount of the ingredients can be changed a little to suit your taste.

Soft and Moist Banana Cake
This recipe yield 6 small cuppies and a loaf.

Ingredients:
250g salted butter
1 1/2 cups castor sugar
4 eggs
1 tsp vanilla essence
4 tbsp milk
1 1/2 cups mashed banana
2 cups plain flour (sift together with 1 tsp bicarbonate of soda and 1 tsp baking powder)
Some Walnuts to sprinkle on top

Method:
Cream butter and sugar in a mixing bowl. Add in eggs, vanilla essence and milk and mix well.
Add mashed banana into the mixture and mix well. Finally add in sifted flour and mix well.
Pour into a loaf pan (I use Pyrex baking loaf pan).
Bake in preheated oven at 160 deg C for 1 hour or until a skewer inserted into the centre of the cake comes out clean. If the top layer turns brown after 15 minutes, cover it with a piece of aluminium foil.
Cool cakes in the pan then remove. Use a sharp knife to slice and serve.

Sue Jean's Photo Frame

2007-11-01T11:15:00.000+08:00

Hello Kitty Photo Frame ~ coloured by Sue Jean

Sue Jean showed me this photo frame when I was picking her up from her school at 1 pm yesterday.

She was very happy and told me lots of things about her school. Her form teacher, Mrs Lee gave everybody a photo frame to colour in class. She used coloured pens (probably was given by her teacher) to "paint" it. So colourful and nice! I told her. She told me to print a photo of her with her brother, Ray Han and was eager to show her friends the photo on it today.

The photo can't be printed due to some problems with the printer driver, so need to re-install the driver. The photo wasn't ready yet, Sue Jean told me it's ok mummy, can do it later. So sweet of her!

Little Sandwich

2007-10-31T15:43:00.000+08:00

This morning I went to supermarket and saw some lettuce, so fresh and green. So I bought it and decided to make some sandwiches for lunch today. I have some tomatoes, cheese and eggs in the fridge. My daughter likes ham, tuna with mayonaise, so I bought all the ingredients as needed.
Here are some cut-out sandwiches. To make my daughter happy, I decorate it with seaweed. Guess what's that seaweed? HAHAHA... it's my daughter's favourite snack, Tao Kae Noi Tom Yam Flavoured Crispy Seaweed. My daughter was very happy!
I beat some eggs with sugar and light soya sauce. I use a frying pan to make some omelettes.
See... the sandwich is smiling... hahaha!!!

8 minutes work out

2007-10-30T17:15:00.000+08:00

I have to do this everyday. Hopefully I can get back my figure. hehe...

Steps on wrapping a rice dumpling

2007-10-26T16:37:00.000+08:00

Chocolate Chips Cream Cheese Muffins

2007-10-26T08:15:00.001+08:00

This muffin is so yummy! I have read some good reviews about this muffins from Lee Lee (Hugbear) and Jestina. It's so tempting! So I decided to bake some to try. The result is fantastic! If you like cheese, this muffin taste heavenly and you will not stop eating.

Thanks Aunty Yochana for sharing her wonderful recipes generously with us.

Here's the recipe. I did some changes to minimise the washing and cleaning (need to look after baby). Making muffins is easier than baking a cake. The difference is for muffins, batter must be lumpy, as for cakes, we have to make sure the batter is creamy.

This recipe yield 10 small little cuppies.

Ingredients:
80 g Sugar
2 eggs

Sift together:
180 g cake flour
1 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt

60 ml fresh milk
70 g melted butter

Mix all the fillings together:
100 g Cream cheese - softened
1 1/2 tbsp castor sugar

Some chocolate chips for sprinkling

Method:
I use wooden spoon to cream eggs and castor sugar. Add in fresh milk and melted butter into mixture and lightly mix it. Sift flour ingredients into the mixture and mix till well mixed.
Spoon batter into paper cups and then scoop a teaspoon of cream cheese mixture on top and some batter to cover the cheese, then sprinkle some chocolate chips on top.
Bake in preheated oven at 180 deg C for about 20 minutes or till golden brown.
Remove from oven and cool on wire rack. Serve warm with a cup of tea/coffee.

I had 3 muffins for breakfast. *burp*!

Substitutions

2007-10-25T15:44:00.000+08:00

If you're short on ingredients, try these substitutions before running to the store:

1 tablespoon cornstarch = 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour or 2 teaspoons arrowroot

1 teaspoon baking powder = 1/4 teaspoon baking soda plus 5/8 teaspoon cream of tartar

1 cup butter = 1 cup margarine OR 7/8 cup vegetable oil or vegetable shortening

1 cup buttermilk = 1 cup plain yogurt plus 1 tablespoon of vinegar or
lemon juice plus enough plain milk to equal one full cup measure

1 cup sifted all-purpose flour = 1 cup minus 2 tablespoons unsifted all-purpose flour

1 cup whole milk = 1 cup skim milk plus 2 tablespoons butter

1 cup tomato juice = 1/2 cup tomato sauce plus 1/2 cup water

Vanilla Extract - If you run out of vanilla extract or flavoring, you can substitute maple syrup, teaspoon for teaspoon.

Parents' wish

2007-10-25T08:34:00.000+08:00

http://parentswish.com/site02/big.html

Chinese version.
《当我老了》——写给孩子的一封信
当我老了，不再是原来的我。
请理解我，对我有一点耐心。

当我把菜汤洒到自己的衣服上时，
当我忘记怎样系鞋带时，
请想一想当初我是如何手把手地教你。

当我一遍又一遍地重复你早已听腻的话语，
请耐心地听我说，不要打断我。

你从小的时候，
我不得不重复那个讲过千百遍的故事，
直到你进入梦乡。

当我需要你帮我洗澡时，
请不要责备我。
还记得小时候我千方百计哄你洗澡的情形吗？

当我对新科技和新事物不知所措时，
请不要嘲笑我。
想一想当初我怎样耐心地回答你的每一个“为什么”。

当我由于双脚疲劳而无法行走时，
请伸出你年轻有力的手搀扶我。
就像你小时候学习走路时，
我扶你那样。

当我忽然忘记我们谈话的主题，
请给我一些时间让我回想。
其实对我来说，谈论什么并不重要，
只要你能在一旁听我说，我就很满足。

当你看着老去的我，请不要悲伤。
理解我，支持我，就像你刚开始
学习如何生活时我对你那样。

当初我引导你走上人生的路，
如今请陪我走完最后的路。
给我你的爱和耐心，
我会报以感激的微笑。
这微笑中凝结着我对你无限的爱。

文章择选自墨西哥《数字家庭》2004年11月号

Raisins Scones

2007-10-24T12:18:00.000+08:00

Makes about 12 scones

Ingredients:
2 cups self-raising flour
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
3 tbsp butter
3 tbsp castor sugar
1/2 cup raisins
1/2 cup milk
1 beaten egg for glazing

Method:
Preheat oven at 180 deg C with a lightly greased empty tray in it. Sift flour, salt and baking powder together. Rub butter lightly into flour to get a bread crumb-like mixture. Stir in sugar and raisins. Get a clean and dry 4-cm round cutter ready. Add in the milk in the flour mixture and mix well to form a smooth soft dough. Do not over-mix. Pat with your hand or roll out to 2-cm thickness and cut with floured cutter. Place on heated baking tray. Brush the scones with egg for glazing. Bake in hot oven at 180 deg C for about 15 minutes or till brown. Serve with Jam, butter, cream, maple syrup or cheese and a cup of tea. Enjoy!!

Note:
If you do not have self-raising flour, use 2 cups of plain flour with 3 teaspoon of baking powder.
If the dough is a bit dry, add milk a little at a time, make sure the dough is smooth and not sticky.