A BIT OF EVERYTHING

Stir fry long bean, cucumber and carrot

2011-09-08T23:06:00.003+08:00

Ingredient:
Long bean
cucumber
carrot
chopped garlic
dry shrimp
minced meat
a bit of salt
a bit of white pepper powder

Long Bean Rice

2011-08-23T14:03:00.007+08:00

Long Bean Rice with mum's special fried shallot. I use the brown rice this time.

Ingredients:

brown rice

mushrooms (soaked then cut strips)

dried shrimp

dried oyster

long bean

meat (cut strips)

shallot (fried)

for taste:

white pepper powder

light soy sauce

dark soy sauce

salt

Stir fry everything in the wok first then transfer to rice cooker and add water to cook.

Taste great with ketchup.

Fried Shallot

2011-08-15T19:01:00.004+08:00

Mom's special fried shallots.

Keep it in an air-tight container it could last a very long time.

Honey Sesame Chicken & Honey Sesame Ribs

2011-08-15T18:33:00.006+08:00

Ribs

Chicken

Ingredients:

Chicken breast (cut into bite size) / Ribs

toasted sesame seeds

marinade with:

1 tbsp light soy sauce

1 tbsp cooking wine

1/2 tbsp sesame oil

1/2 tbsp sugar

some salt & pepper powder

2 tbsp rice flour/corn flour (just before frying)

Sauce:

3 tbsp sweet chilli sauce

2 tbsp ketchup

2 tbsp honey

2 tbsp light soy sauce

1 tbsp oyster sauce

1/4 cup water

Stir-fry round cabbage

2011-08-15T18:24:00.004+08:00

Ingredients:
round cabbage

carrot

dried shrimps

chopped garlic

pepper powder

salt

cooking oil

Kung Pao Chicken

2011-07-12T09:20:00.005+08:00

At first I thought I will make a mess in the kitchen frying the chicken pieces but I was wrong. It was really easy and I was glad the oil did not splash all over the place.

The recipe was really simple.

Cut chicken breast into bite size and marinade it with light soysauce, chinese wine and sesame oil for about 1 hour. Add some corn flour to the chicken you marinade before frying. Stir fry the chicken until about 80% cooked.

For the sauce: mix dark soysauce with chinese wine and some sugar.

Heat up some oil then put in some chopped garlic and stir fry it until slightly brown, add in some dried chilli pepper. Stir fry slightly until dried chilli pepper turn dark red. Pour in the sauce and then add in the chicken and you can add some salt. Stir fry for a while then add in the cashew nuts and spring onions. Add in a few drops of sesame oil that's it. Serve hot.

Curry Puff 2

2011-06-25T15:03:00.006+08:00

The curry puff I made the other day was not crispy and it turn soft very quicky. I just got to try it out again until I know what went wrong. I guess I got the answer now. I have added too much water to the dough and made the dough too soft. I reduced the water and made a harder dough today and I get the crispness that I want.

Gold dinar and dinner for polygamous men

2011-06-25T10:01:00.002+08:00

Gold dinar and dinner for polygamous men

Read the article on TheStar today and couldn't help wondering does it make sense to reward cheating husbands? Lols, and shouldn't it be dinner for 5 instead of 2? How about the other wives?

There are so many poor and needy people out there waiting for helping hands, the gold dinar would be a great gift for them instead of those cheating husbands.

Mee goreng

2011-06-24T08:29:00.006+08:00

My daughter cooked me this mee goreng that she learns at school. My niece who was a form 5 student at the same secondary school told me that this will be the one and only cooking that my daughter will be doing throughout her 3 years of lower secondary school. I really cannot understand what happened in schools nowadays.

I was a homescience student during my lower secondary school years and I had so much fun cooking and sewing during my homescience classes. I remembered we have cooking classes at least once a month and I learnt so much from all those practical cooking lessons.

But nowadays teachers seems to prefer to confine students to the classroom to just go thru theory instead of practical. Come on teachers, cooking and sewing should be hands on.

I was surprised that the mee goreng tasted quite good.

Curry puff

2011-06-23T20:42:00.007+08:00

Curry puff, a favourite all time snack. It's sold at breakfast as well as afternoon tea. I love the one that was sold at one of the kopitiam near my house and my daughter is crazy over it too. I went back to the kopitiam a few times already hoping to get the curry puffs but never had any luck. The curry puffs were all snatched up almost as soon as it arrived.

I told my daughter I will try to made some for her and so I did. It was not as tasty as the one sold at the kopitiam but it's edible... lols...

My brother said the curry stuffing lack the fragrance of the curry leaves and suggested that I add some curry leaves next time.

Rainy day

2011-06-23T14:44:00.005+08:00

I enjoyed looking at the rain from my garden.....

Vegetable patch

2011-06-23T14:32:00.004+08:00

I have been neglecting my garden for a while so the grass has grown a lots of weeds and it looks awful. I am going to try growing vegetables and so I cleared off all the grass with the help of a worker I hired and made myself a vegetable patch. But how it's going to turn out I will have to wait a few months to find out the answer. As for now I am happy with my new project...

Mooncake

2011-06-23T14:17:00.005+08:00

My first time making mooncake. I got the recipe from the internet. I bought the low sugar lotus paste from the store. I was glad I don't have to cook the lotus paste myself, maybe next time I will try to cook the lotus paste myself but since I am just trying it out the very first time so I just use the one I bought from the store.

Coconut Buns

2011-06-23T13:58:00.006+08:00

I tried baking coconut buns again and this time it turned out really nice.

Birthday cake

2011-06-23T10:11:00.003+08:00

Baked a cake for my brother's girlfriend early this month with my daughter's idea for the decoration.

Achar

2011-06-23T09:50:00.007+08:00

I loved mum's achar so much that I just got to get her to teach me how to cook it. I tried making the chilli paste myself but it just doesn't taste the same as mum's so I got her to made me some chilli paste.

The ingredients: long beans, carrots, cucumbers, round cabbage, pineapple, sesame seeds and grounded groundnuts.

Chill it before serve. Taste really good. Mum even said that mine was better than hers, lols..

Japanese cheesecake 2

2011-06-23T03:11:00.011+08:00

Baked Japanese cheesecake again today and has changed the method a little bit. Unlike the first time now the cake did not sink.

Chill it before serve. Taste really good after it is chilled.

The ingredients I use:
150g cream cheese (at room temperature)
50g unsalted butter (at room temperature)
60g milk

15g lemon juice
4 egg yolks

35g corn flour
35g superfine flour

4 egg whites
1/4 tsp salt
70g sugar

Method:
1. Mixed cream cheese and butter well first then double boil it. Keep stirring until you see both the butter has melted then add in the milk. Continue stirring about 3 mins.
2. Take the mixture off from the double boiler. Add in the egg yolks immediately, mix it well then add in the lemon juice.
3. Sieve the corn flour and superfine flour together then add into the mixture.
4. Beat up the egg whites, add in the salt and the sugar. Beat until the egg white come to a stiff.
5. Add the mixture to the egg whites.
6. Bake in water for 115 mins at 160degC.

Hello kitty birthday cake

2009-10-23T16:33:00.008+08:00

Baked two hello kitty cakes, one for my niece and the other one for my daughter.

Their birthday are only 3 days apart so we celebrated it on the same day.

Here are the cakes,

The hello kitty is just agar-agar that I have actually make it just for fun but then it ended up on top the cake....

I was running a bit late after all the cooking and cleaning and so I just want to do a simple cake decoration and have it done quickly. I looked around and the two hello kitty agar agar caught my eyes and that is how it ended up on the cake. Not a bad idea right?

Both my niece and daughter love the cakes.

Durian cream birthday cake

2009-10-23T16:16:00.007+08:00

My brother's birthday cake

It's a durian cream cake.

Any normal chiffon cake will do and use non dairy fresh cream + durian puree for decoration.

Puff

2009-09-07T15:51:00.009+08:00

...

It's really easy to made. Preparation time is less than 5 mins and baking time is 15 mins.

Sweet corn pudding

2009-09-07T15:43:00.006+08:00

It's not too bad. Tasted even better with some creamer added to it.

Cooking pork ribs and eggs

2009-08-27T08:18:00.009+08:00

Ingredients:

10 pieces mushroom (soaked in water to soften it then cut into half, keep the water that you soak the mushroom with)

500g pork ribs

Carrot (I did not state how many carrots because it is entirely up to you, if you like carrot you can have more. Cut them into large pieces)

Hard boiled eggs (again the quantity is entirely up to you but take out the shell first)

Garlics (leave the skin where possible)

Cooking oil

Light soy sauce - 2~3 tbsp

Dark soy sauce - more or less 50g

Sesame oil - more or less 25g

Chinese rice wine - more or less 50g

Pepper powder

Salt

1. Heat up the wok. Pour in some cooking oil to brown the garlic. Put in the carrot and stir fry it a bit then follow by the mushrooms. Next put in the meat. I normally sprinkler some pepper powder over the meat at this stage. Stir fry all the things until you see the meat is slightly cook.

2. Put in light soy sauce, follow by the sesame oil then the dark soy sauce and last the Chinese rice wine. Stir fry a bit then add in the water that you use to soaked the mushroom. The water should rise slightly above all the things in your wok. Add in some salt.

3. Put all the hard boiled eggs into a cooking pot and transfer all the things in your wok to the pot.

4. Cook/simmer it over low heat for about 1/2 hour. Check it once in a while if the water almost dry up then you should add in more water.

Additionally, you can also add some tau pok or bean skin if you like.

Chocolate chips, hazelnut & walnut cookies

2009-08-24T20:23:00.006+08:00

Recipe:

250g unsalted butter

130g castor sugar

1 whole egg

1tsp vanilla essence

300g superfine flour

30g cocoa powder

1tsp baking powder

1/2tsp sodium bicarbonate

50g walnuts (chopped)

50g hazel nuts (chopped)

50g chocolate chips

1. cream the butter and sugar on low speed until well combine then increase the speed and continue creaming until fluffy. Add in the eggs and vanilla essence - continue to cream for another 3 minutes or so.

2. sift superfine flour, baking powder, sodium bicarbonate and cocoa powder and add into mixture. Mix on low speed to form a dough.

3. add in the walnuts, hazel nuts and chocolate chips and mix well.

4. shape the cookies into small balls and place them onto a greased baking tray.

5. bake in preheated oven at 180C for 16 minutes.

Very simple ABC soup

2009-08-21T19:14:00.011+08:00

Cooking soup could be really easy and no fuss. I cooked ABC soup today.

Here are the ingredient I use:

Carrot

Potato

Tomato

Onion

Groundnut (Optional)

Meat pieces (either pork ribs or chicken, I normally use chicken meat)

Method:

1. Cut the carrot, tomato and onions into pieces (don't cut too small). Put them into the slow cooker together with some water. If you like groundnut you can add the groundnuts in. Let it cook for about 4 hours.

2. Put in the chicken meat. Let it cook for another 1/2 hour or so.

3. Cut the potato into half and put them into the soup. Continue to cook for a further one hour or so or until the potato is soft.

4. Taste the soup first before you add any salt. The soup tasted really sweet in its original taste so the amount of salt to put in is up to you.

My daughter like to add mee suah to her soup or you can also add beehoon if you like. I prefer mine without any noodles but with lots of groundnuts.

And so that is our dinner, simple yet healthy.

Rice wine mee suah

2009-08-19T23:06:00.008+08:00

I like ginger only if it is cooked with meat and sesame oil but not if it is fried with vegetables like how the vegetarian restaurant cooked it. I just cannot stand the ginger taste in the vegetables and I was told that vegetarian cannot take garlic so most of their dishes are cooked with ginger instead.

I cooked some meat with lots of ginger and sesame oil today and I have also added some rice wine that my aunt made.

Tasted just the way I like it. It was a bit spicy though because of all the ginger.

My daughter had it with rice whereas I had mine with mee suah. I also added some fried eggs and a lot more rice wine to my mee suah. Yum...

Tau pok and golden needles soup

2009-08-18T20:29:00.013+08:00

I always use the slow cooker to cook soup. It is really easy and simple. I cooked tau pok and golden needles (dried lily bud) soup today.

The picture below are the ingredients:

some groundnuts

some golden needles (put 2 together and type a knot)

some tau pok

some chicken pieces

The method:

1. put some water in the slow cooker

2. throw in the groundnuts and golden needles and just let it boil in the slow cooker. I left it boiled over 4 hours

3. Then put in the tau pok and chicken pieces

4. The soup is ready when the chicken pieces are cooked. It take about 1 hours. Try the soup first before you add any salt then add the salt according to your preference.

Fried cellophane noodle (2)

2009-08-18T19:19:00.006+08:00

I fried some cellophane noodle again today and as usual the ingredients I use are what I can find in my fridge.

Preparation and cooking take less than 30 minutes. Simple and tasty and no MSG.

Chocolate chiffon cake

2009-08-18T19:09:00.007+08:00

I like the chocolate chiffon cake that I baked yesterday. It is really spongy and tasted good. Of the many chocolate chiffon cake recipe that I have tried I like this one the most.

Here's what I use:

5 1/2 egg yolks
30g castor sugar
80g cooking oil
80g UHT milk
3g vanilla essence

110g superfine flour
2g baking powder

6 egg whites
2g salt
50g castor sugar

40g warm water
10g cocoa powder

Bibimbap (2)

2009-08-08T14:15:00.005+08:00

Cooked bibimbap for lunch again. Yummy ......

'Tofu skin' with carrot and meat

2009-08-08T13:46:00.012+08:00

I called it 'tau kee' because I don't know the actual name of it. It is made of tofu skin and found in stall selling yong tau foo and steamboat.

I like to cook it with carrot and meat. It is simple and quick to cook.

The ingredients:
some chopped garlic
some carrots
some tau kee
some meat
Seasoning:
oil
light soy sauce
dark soy sauce
pepper powder

Brown the garlic then put in the carrots. Cook in medium heat until carrot soften a bit then put in the meat. Put in the pepper powder, light soy sauce and dark soy sauce and continue to fry for a little while. Then put in the 'tau kee' and enough water to cover everything. Cook it over high heat for about 5 minutes and turn off the fire. It is ready for serving.

Wholemeal bread

2009-08-08T12:17:00.011+08:00

I actually made a mistake during the process of mixing the dough but to my surprise the bread turned out really well.

I was supposed to mix the yeast with water first but I did not. I put the yeast into the flour and mixed it up by mistake.

And I don't know what went wrong but the dough took more than 8 hours to rise. It was rainy and cold on that day but surely it won't take such a long time to proof. I have thought of throwing the dough away but then luckily I did not.

I tried it out again the next day and I followed the same process I did the day before. I mixed the yeast with the flour but surprisingly it only took one hour for the dough to proof.

I added some raisin to the bread this time and again the bread turned out really well. I gave it to my mum and she said it was tasty and really soft.

The recipe:

50g wholemeal flour

125g high protein flour

1 tablespoon milk powder

1 tablespoon brown sugar

1 tsp butter

1/2 tsp bread improver

1/2 tsp salt

1/2 tablespoon yeast

130ml cold water

Chicken with sesame oil and Chinese rice wine

2009-08-05T21:00:00.012+08:00

I cooked some chicken with the Chinese rice wine that my aunt made. My aunt's rice wine is really good and the sweetness is just perfect. She told my mum that she will teach me to make the rice wine. Guess I will have to find some time during the school break by the end of this month to learn it from her.

My daugther wants to have rice with the chicken.

But I prefered to have mine with mee suah, just like the rice wine mee suah. And I add in a lot more rice wine in it and it was simply yummy....

Cheesy tomato fried rice

2009-08-05T20:49:00.012+08:00

It's yummy.......

The ingredients are:

Rice

Eggs

Sweet corn

Meat

Carrots

Round cabbage

Tomatoes

Onions

Mozzarella cheese

Grilled salmon

Seasoning I use olive oil, pepper powder, light soy sauce, salt and ketchup.

Fried dong fen (cellophane noodles)

2009-08-03T22:20:00.011+08:00

I like to cook using simple ingredients from what I can get from my refrigerator. I don't follow a recipe for what I cook and so each time the ingredients and the taste may be differ.

I fried some dong fen (cellophane noodles) today. As usual I use the ingredients I have in my refrigerator.

Some minced meat

Some round cabbages (cut thin strips)

Some carrots (cut thin strips)

Some scallions

Some fried eggs

Some dry shrimp

Some chopped garlic

Some dong fen (soak to soften it first)

For seasoning, I use some light soy sauce, some dark soy sauce, a bit of salt and a bit of pepper powder.

First fried some eggs and cut into small pieces and put aside for later use. Then heat up the wok, pour in some cooking oil and brown the garlic. Put in the carrot, follow by the meat then the dry shrimp. Fried for a while then put in the seasoning - pepper powder, follow by the light soy sauce then the dark soy sauce. After that put in the cellophane noodles and eggs and stir fry till all the cellophane noodles is coated with the soy sauce. Add in some water and fry for a further few minutes till the cellophane noodles absorbed the moisture. Put in the scallions, stir fry one minutes and turn off the fire. The dong fen is ready to be serve.

Mini wholemeal bread

2009-08-03T22:05:00.005+08:00

I baked some mini wholemeal bun today. I bought the wholemeal flour from the new bakery supplies shop and it was slightly different from the one I normally use. The one I normally use has more flour in it. Guess I need to add more water when using the flour that I bought from the new shop.

The bread was a little bit hard and look a bit dry too but overall it was still okay.

Simple noodle soup

2009-08-02T17:56:00.009+08:00

I have some yellow noodles left so I cooked a big pot of noodles soup tonight. And again the ingredient I use is very simple.

Some round cabbages (cut thin strips like in salad)

Some carrots (cut thin strips)

Some scallions

Some filament sticks

Yellow noodles

Some bean skin (photo shown below, I don't know the exact name of it but it can be found at the stalls that sell yong tau foo items. I bought it from the wet market but I kept it frozen when not in use and it could last more than a week)

As for seasoning I only use a few drops of olive oil, a few drops of sesame oil and a big tablespoon of gochujang. But you can add in more gochujang if you like your soup hot and spicy.

Put the cabbages and carrots into the pot. Add water and a few drop of olive oil. Let it boil until all the vegetables turn soft. Put in the bean skin and the gochujang. Let it boil for a while then put in the noodles, scallions and filament sticks. Let it boil for about 5 minutes and turn off the fire. Put a few drops of sesame oil over it and it is done.

Fried noodles

2009-08-01T12:07:00.009+08:00

I fried some noodles for lunch today. I use very simple ingredients.

1 packet of yellow noodles

some sliced meat

some sliced fish cake

a lot of mustard leaves (I like vegetables so I put a lot of it. Use the stem also, don't waste it)

some chopped garlic

Can also add some prawn and squid, but I did not today.

For seasoning just some pepper powder and black soy sauce.

The yellow noodles is already a bit salty by itself so you don't have to add anymore salt to it unless you like salty food.

This is the yellow noodles I use.

The noodles ready to be eaten.

Heat up the wok and pour some oil to brown the chopped garlic. When garlic is slightly brown, put in the meat then follow by the fish cake. Then put the pepper powder follow by the dark soy sauce. Next put in the mustard leaves and the stem follow by the noodles. Add enough water to cover all the noodles and cook over high heat. When the water dried and the noodle is soft, turn off the fire. The noodle is ready to be serve.

Steamed glutinous rice

2009-07-29T11:14:00.006+08:00

I always soaked the rice overnight when I am cooking the steamed glutinous rice. It will take shorter time to cook.

The ingredients I use are:
8 pieces of mushroom (soaked in water until it soften then cut strips)
10 pieces of medium size dried oysters
300g pork belly cut into strips
80g dried prawn
some fried shallots
500g glutinous rice (soaked overnight)
For seasoning I use:
dark soy sauce
light soy sauce
sesame oil
chinese wine
oyster sauce
some pepper

Japanese curry

2009-07-28T13:05:00.005+08:00

Cooked a big wok of Japanese curry for lunch today. It is too much for just the 2 of us. Only eat about 1/3 for lunch. Guess I will keep 1/3 for dinner and store the other 1/3 in the fridge for other days when I am a bit lazy to cook.

Preparation and cooking is easy.
The ingredient I use are:
1 big potato
1 big carrot
1 big round onion
300g meat
1/2 an apple
1/2 packet of curry sauce mix
a bit of santan

Cut the potato, carrot, onion, meat and apple into bite size.
Boil the carrot, potato and onion in a pot until it is soft.
Heat up the wok with a little bit of cooking oil to brown the meat.
When the meat is brown, pour in the carrot, potato, onion and together with the water.
Cook over medium heat until it boil. Once boiled remove it from the heat. Break the curry sauce mix into pieces and add to the wok.
Cook over low heat until curry thickens. Add in the apples and then the santan.
Bring it to a boil and turn off the fire and it is ready to be serve.

Noodles and soup

2009-07-26T21:30:00.007+08:00

My daughter prefer noodles over rice.

And the picture below is one of her favourite noodles.

So whenever I feel a bit lazy, I will just cook some simple soup for her to go with the noodles.

I was a bit lazy today so I cooked her some potatoes and tofu soup with gimchi and gochujang to go with the noodles.

The ingredients for the soup are:

potatoes

carrots

meat

bean sprouts

gimchi

tofu

As for seasoning I use gochujang and sesame oil and that's all.

Cut the potatoes and carrot and cooked them in the water until soft then add in the meat and follow by the bean sprouts. Then add in some gimchi and gochujang. Last add in the tofu and some sesame oil. Let it boil for a while and the soup is ready.

No messing up the kitchen and that is what I love the most.

And the soup tasted great with the noodles.

Pineapple tarts

2009-07-26T16:44:00.007+08:00

Went to the bakery supplies store today and saw they have pineapple jam from Thailand. It is the first time I see they sell the pineapple jam from Thailand and since it is only RM7.50 per kg per pack so I bought one pack home to try. I baked some pineapple tarts using the jam since my daughter likes pineapple tarts but the pineapple jam is too sweet to my liking. I have only use half of it and now I am wondering what to do with the rest of the jam.

The recipe for the tarts:
300g superwhite flour
200g margarine
2 egg yolks
1/2 egg yolks
1/2 tbsp pineapple essence
1/2 tsp vanilla essence
500g pineapple jam

I made about 55 tarts out of the above recipe and the cost is about RM8 only.

Fried beehoon

2009-07-25T23:14:00.004+08:00

I like cooking and so mum used to let me cook lunch during the weekends back while I was in the lower secondary school. Well, lunch would be something simple like fried beehoon, fried hockkien mee, fried rice or loh mee and goes with either green bean, red bean or the red bean and black glutinous rice dessert.

Fried beehoon is easy and the ingredient I used normally depends on what I have in the fridge and so it varies all the time.
I fried some beehoon today and the ingredient I used are beehoon, prawn, round cabbage,meat and some chopped garlic. For seasoning I use white pepper powder, light soy sauce, dark soy sauce and some salt. Preparation and cooking time is less than 30 minutes.

Banana cake

2009-07-24T20:29:00.008+08:00

Yummy banana cake!

My daughter wants a plain one without any nuts whereas my mum likes hers with walnuts and I have added some almond for her too.

You can get 2 loaves out of the following ingredients and the cost is only around RM9.

250g melted butter (use unsalted butter)
3 eggs (grade A)
125g milk
375g mashed banana
150g castor sugar
1g salt
345g superfine flour
6g baking powder
6g sodium bicarbonate

Japanese cheese cake

2009-07-22T23:56:00.011+08:00

I baked the Japanese cheese cake for my daughter today.

She is still on orthodontic treatment and her dentist has just changed a new wire and put a rubber chain on her braces yesterday. So she is feeling uncomfortable as it will be a bit painful for a few days each time her dentist change the wire. But I am very proud of her as she does not complain. She only asked me if I could prepared food that is soft for her as her teeth hurt when she bites.

I gave her the cheese cake and she loves it. She said it is much softer than the chiffon cake.

The preparation was not difficult at all. The only problem is the cake sank when it was set aside to cool. I don't know why.

But the cake is really yummy when it is chilled.

The cake inside the oven. Bake in water bath at 230C for 10 mins and 160C for 55 mins.

Just taken out of the oven. Sank a little bit in the centre.

After refrigerated it for 2 hours and ready to be eaten. Really Yummy!

The recipe:

160g cream cheese

40g unsalted butter

60g milk

4 nos. of egg yolk

10g lemon juice

30g superfine flour

30g corn flour

4 nos. of egg whites

75g castor sugar

2g salt

1. Beat the egg yolks together with the lemon juice with hand whisk.

2. Cream the cream cheese together with the butter until well mix then add in the milk and continue to cream until well mix. Double boil it and blend until smooth then add it into the egg yolks mixture and mix well.

3. Add in sieved superfine flour and corn flour and mix to become a smooth batter.

4. Add salt to egg whites and beat till foamy. Add in castor sugar and continue beating until soft peaks is form.

5. Add egg white mixture into the batter, fold in gently.

6. Grease and line bottom of a 9" tin and pour the batter in.

7. Bake at 230C for 10~13 mins then 160C for 50~60 minutes.

8. When it is cooked, remove it from oven and set aside to cool. Refrigerate it for 2 to 3 hours, remove from cake tin and ready to be serve.

Durian cake

2009-07-21T12:32:00.009+08:00

Bought some local D24 durians from the market last Friday. The lady who sold the durians own the durian orchard herself and the price sold was quiet reasonable. The durians tasted bittersweet and it was really good.

I have tried durian pancake at midvalley before and I love it but I have never had durian cake before so I thought I will try to bake one myself. I don't have a recipe for it and was too lazy to search the web for it so I thought I will just use the recipe of the banana cake and instead of using the banana I will use the durian and see if it will work.

I baked the cake in the loaf tin and the balance of the batter I baked some cupcakes. Well, the cake turned out nicely but the taste was kind of funny. I am not sure how to describe the taste exactly but the taste of the durian was just too strong.

Fruit tarts 2

2009-07-21T08:43:00.010+08:00

Some fruit tarts for my friend's birthday and since I was on it I made some for my daughter's teacher as well........

Some tarts for my SIL and the other brother's GF.

Some tarts for my daughter....

Stir fry dang myeon

2009-07-14T22:06:00.006+08:00

I have some dang myeon left and decided to cook it my own way this time. I don't quiet like to follow recipe most of the time as I prefer to cook the food the way I like it. Cooking is fun and I enjoy it.

I got some carrot, bean sprouts, scallions, shrimp and meat out from the fridge.

Chopped some garlic and stir fry everything together with the dang myeon.

Here is what I did:

Heat up the wok, pour in 2 tbsp of olive oil and fry the garlic first.

Then put in the meat and follow by the carrot, bean sprouts and scallions.

Next add in some pepper powder, light soy sauce, dark soy sauce, salt and sesame oil.

Continue to stir fry it for a while.

Then put in the dang myeon. Add enough water as the dang myeon will suck up all the water and it take quiet a lot of water to become soft.

The taste was good, not too much sesame oil just as I like it. My daughter enjoyed it too.

Banana and walnut muffin

2009-07-13T17:18:00.009+08:00

I baked some banana and walnut muffin today. It is simply delicious.

I used pisang berangan.

And here is the recipe:

300g mashed banana (pisang berangan tasted good but I have tried with pisang emas too and it wasn't bad)

120g castor sugar

1g salt

200g melted butter

2 whole eggs

100g milk

275g superfine flour

5g baking powder

5g sodium bicarbonate

some chopped walnuts

Double boil butter until all dissolved and let it cool before adding milk and egg. Stir until well combine.

Add sugar and salt to mashed banana and mix well until sugar dissolved add in chopped walnuts then add the whole thing to the butter mixture.

Sieve in superfine flour, baking powder and sodium bicarbonate to form a batter.

Fill up muffin cup with the batter. Just fill 3/4 full will do.

Preheat oven to 180C and bake for 20 to 25 minutes.

Paper wrap chicken

2009-07-13T16:45:00.008+08:00

I invited my family over my house for dinner last Saturday. There were 8 of us. I have prepared some paper wrap chicken along with other dishes.

As I am busiest during weekend so I have to cook the food which I can pre-prepared and not messy to cook and the paper wrap chicken is easy and not messy.

I bought 6 large pieces of chicken thigh and have it cut into 2 pieces each. Marinate it with some sesame oil, light soy sauce, dark soy sauce, pepper, ginger juice, Chinese wine, oyster sauce, sugar and scallions.

Preheat oven to 200C.

Prepared some grease proof paper, paper should be cut big enough to wrap the chicken pieces.

Brush one side of the grease proof paper with oil then place chicken pieces on it and wrap into individual parcels.

Bake for 30 to 35 minutes.

Tasted quiet good but it not salty and the chicken is not dark enough. Next time I will add more of both the light and dark soy sauce.

My Birthday Cake

2009-07-12T00:28:00.010+08:00

My SIL bought me birthday cake every year but I told her to stop. I need to practise a lot in cake decoration, so I will bake a birthday cake for everyone in my family on their birthday including my ownself. I will try to bake a different cake each time.

Actually I wanted to try the mousse this time but I could not find some of the ingredient I need. I wanted to make 奶香水果慕斯 but I cannot get gelatin in pieces form. The lady at the bakery supplies shop told me gelatin in pieces form are not sold in Malaysia as it cannot obtain the halal certification. She told me to substitute that with gelatin powder but I don't know the conversion of piece to grams for the gelatin. I try the German Black Forest this time.

I cannot figure out why the cake was a little bit salty and I thought it was the cadbury chocolate but now I remembered I have added too much salt to the batter.

Here's the recipe I use:

30g chocolate emulco and 45g cocoa powder mixed with 105g hot water

6 egg yolks, 80g castor sugar, 1.5g salt

75g cooking oil, 90g milk

180g superfine powder, 3g baking powder, 3g sodium bicarbonate

6 egg whites, 100g castor sugar and 1.5 tsp cream of tartar

For the decoration I use 350g non dairy fresh cream and some blueberry jam, peaches and grapes.

It is difficult to stick the chocolate flake on the side of the cake, you can see it is a bit uneven.

Chocolate swiss roll

2009-07-07T21:37:00.009+08:00

I baked a chocolate Swiss roll today but I have a lot of batter left so I baked a 7" round cake with it.

Here is the recipe I use:

20g chocolate emulco and 30g cocoa powder mixed with 70g hot water

4 egg yolk, 50g sugar and 1g salt beat together then add 50g cooking oil and 60g milk

120g superfine flour, 2g baking powder, 2g sodium bicarbonate added to the egg yolk mixture

4 egg whites, 60g castor sugar and 1g cream of tartar, beat until stiff then add to the above mixture.

Bake in preheated oven at 180C for 15mins for swiss roll

Bake in preheated oven at 180C for 30mins for cake

I like the cake, it is moist. I use the peanut butter butter-cream on the cake, it is yummy.

Gimchi soup

2009-07-05T18:29:00.009+08:00

I cooked a pot of gimchi soup for dinner tonight. It was too much for just the 2 of us.
This is my first time cooking gimchi soup and I have not look up the recipe for it so I am not sure if what I did is correct or not but anyway the soup was tasty.

Below is what I have in my gimchi soup:
some meat
some bean sprouts
some enoki mushrooms
some scallions
some tofu
last but not least some gimchi and 3-4 tbsp of chilli paste

I arranged the meat, bean sprouts, enoki mushrooms and scallions in the pot first. Then I poured some hot water over it and let it boil over the stove. When it boiled, I put the gimchi and chilli paste in. I put the tofu in last, close the cover and let it boil for a few minutes and it is done.

Very easily done and does not mess up the kitchen.

Chiffon cake

2009-07-04T00:30:00.006+08:00

Chiffon cake is easy to bake when you get the right method of beating the egg whites. I can't remembered how many eggs I have wasted when I first learnt to bake chiffon cake. But it was okay because after a few trial and error I managed to understand.

See my result...

Mini egg tarts

2009-07-03T23:40:00.010+08:00

I have some leftover tart pastry from the coconut tarts so I decided to bake some egg tarts. I baked 6 big egg tarts and 10 mini ones.

And there was still some more leftover after the egg tarts so I baked them all up and keep them in a airtight container. I have 6 pieces in the container. It will last at least 2 weeks or maybe even longer. I knew because I kept some for 2 weeks last time and it was still crispy after 2 weeks. You can just eat it with jam if you are lazy to make custard cream and cut up some fruits. I filled up some with just blueberry jam last time and it was simply delicious.

Here's the recipe for the egg fillings (can make about 8 big tarts and 10 mini tarts)

2 whole eggs

40g sugar

1g salt

75g milk

40g water

1/2 tsp vanilla

1. Combine eggs, sugar and salt, stir until sugar dissolved.

2. Add milk, water and vanilla. Mix well and then strain.

3. Press the pastry into the tart moulds and bake for 6 minutes in the preheated oven at 180C.

4. Pour the egg filling into the half baked tart pastry and continue to bake at 180C for another 12 to 14 minutes. Use only half of the time mentioned above for mini tarts.

Coconut tarts

2009-07-03T20:54:00.007+08:00

I baked some coconut tarts today. The tarts turned out quiet nice but it was not sweet enough.

The recipe said 120g castor sugar but I change it to 60g brown sugar. Brown sugar is actually okay but I will need to increase to least 90g next time.

It's okay to use any tart pastry recipe but for the coconut fillings I use the following recipe (can make about 7 big tarts).

200g desiccated coconut (I use freshly grated coconut)

120g castor sugar (or 90g brown sugar if you don't like it too sweet)

1 whole egg

50g melted butter

All you have to do is combine everything up and make sure it is mix well.

Press the pastry into the tart moulds and fill it up with the coconut fillings.

Bake in preheated oven at 180C for 18-20 minutes.

Chilli paste - Mum's secret recipe

2009-07-02T11:17:00.011+08:00

My mother's chilli paste is really good. She always make a lot and keep it in the freezer. There is no preservatives and colouring added to it. My mother kept her chilli paste in plastic jar in her freezer and whenever she wants to use it, she will take the jar out from the freezer and wait for it to unfroze. She will scope up the quantity she needs and put the jar back into the freezer. It could last several months in the freezer and still taste good.

She gave me some and I kept mine frozen in the freezer just like her. I took mine out today because my daughter wants me to cook her squid and shrimp curry.

Here's the chilli paste, just taken out from the freezer.

After it unfroze,

Cooked it with prawn, squid and onions. Add some santan to it and it taste really really good.

My mother use her special chilli paste to cook chicken curry too and needless to say the taste is superb. Oh ya, my mother will add some curry powder as well when she cook chicken curry.

Swiss Roll

2009-06-30T20:25:00.008+08:00

My second attempt at swiss roll and I was glad it turned out okay.
The first time I tried the swiss roll it cracked when I rolled it up.

I have spread blueberry jam on one side and peanut butter on the other side. I have tried a piece just now, wasn't bad.

Here is the recipe I use, I have made some changes.

4 nos. of egg yolks
50g castor sugar (the original recipe said 60g)
1/2 tsp vanilla essence
60g cooking oil
80g to 90g milk (the original recipe said 50g water but I prefer milk. I use 50g milk in the beginning but the batter was too thick so I added a lot more milk to it. I think I probably have added more than 30g of milk)
1g salt

150g superfine flour
1g baking powder

4 nos. of egg white
60g castor sugar (the original recipe said 80g)
1g cream of tartar

I did not follow the method as shown on the original recipe. I use the method of chiffon cake making, that was simpler to me.

Wholemeal bread with walnut, raisin and pumkin seeds

2009-06-29T17:05:00.010+08:00

Baked some wholemeal bread today. I have added raisins, walnuts, flax seeds, sunflower seeds and pumpkin seeds to it and it tasted really good.

I used 250g wholemeal flour, 250g high protein flour, 9g instant yeast, 20g brown sugar, 9g salt, 300g water and 25g olive oil and I get 4 small loaf.

Bibimbap

2009-06-26T20:32:00.007+08:00

My daughter likes to eat bibimbap and every time we have lunch at the Korean restaurant she will order bibimbap for sure.

It is actually quiet simple to cook bibimbap. Just boil all the veges and dress it with sesame oil, ground sesame seeds, grated garlic and some salt. Stir fry some meat and fried some eggs (my daughter doesn't like the half cooked egg).

I bought some kimchi at Jusco a few days ago and a box of gochujang from Tesco this afternoon so I cooked her bibimbap for dinner today. She was very happy of course and had a big bowl of rice.

Oh ya, and she reminded me to put some dried laver the next time.

Lotus in the pot

2009-06-22T16:03:00.025+08:00

I love plants that grow in the water and I have a few pots of lotus in my garden.

I have seen some of my neighbours growing the lotus plant in their garden too but after a while I saw it was gone from their garden. Amazingly, mine has been growing really well until today.

I have neglected the plant for a while so my poor plant has not been flowering very well recently. But the plants are probably getting old already. I had them for about 8 years now.

Mini apple tree

2009-06-21T22:00:00.007+08:00

I love to grow trees that bear fruits but I only have a small garden at home. I got the mini apple tree from the flower nursery that I frequent.

I am not sure if it is actually mini apples but the guy at the nursery told me that it is mini apple. I tried to eat it once, it's sour and tasted more like plum.

I have the tree for about 7 years now and it is still blooming.

I grow the tree in the flower pot. It is easy to care for. I put some fertilizer in the pot every 3 to 4 months once.

Peppermint marble loaf

2009-06-21T14:01:00.006+08:00

Tried the peppermint marble cake a few days ago. This time I have followed the recipe exactly. But the cake seems a little bit damp at the bottom, maybe I did not get the oven temperature correct. Overall, the cake still taste good.

I like the peppermint taste but my daughter doesn't like it.

The recipe can be found at http://www.y3k.com.my/

More fruit tarts

2009-06-21T11:31:00.005+08:00

It was fun decorating fruit tarts.

See ..........

Marble Chiffon Cake 大理石雪纺蛋糕

2009-06-14T21:44:00.009+08:00

I was eager to try out the recipes from the book my cousin gave me today. The book is written in Mandarin so it is a bit difficult for me to understand some of the ingredients.

The marble chiffon cake ingredients looked simple to me and most importantly I have all the required ingredients in my kitchen so I gave it a try just now.

The cake tasted really good, the texture is so soft and it is very spongy too. Yummy!

Surprisingly the cake tasted good even though I have forgotten to add in the sugar into the egg white. I have only realised I have forgotten the sugar after I put the baking pan into the oven.

However, the cake is not totally tasteless as I have added some sugar to the egg yolk portion.

The ingredients:

100g egg yolks

50g caster sugar

80g cooking oil

80g milk

3g rum

110g superfine flour

2g baking powder

250g egg whites

90g caster sugar

2g salt

10g cocoa powder

40g hot water

Cheesy spaghetti bolognese

2009-06-10T13:37:00.008+08:00

I will be away for 2 days and don't want to keep the leftover tomato puree, button mushroom, etc from the pizza yesterday in the fridge for too long. So my daughter suggested I cook her spaghetti bolognese for lunch today. And, she reminded me to put a lot of the mozzarella cheese.

I normally go without the mozzarella cheese when I cooked for her and her friends in school because I will pack the spaghetti and the bolognese sauce separately and will leave the lunch boxes at the security guard office for over an hour until her lunch break. Her friends like the spaghetti bolognese and will make a request thru my daughter every now and then.

Fruit tarts (2)

2009-06-09T21:42:00.007+08:00

It was fun making fruit tarts and so I baked some again today. Got some pineapples and blueberry jam ones. My daughter loves them.

Seafood pizza

2009-06-09T14:51:00.006+08:00

Baked my daugther and myself some seafood pizza for lunch today.

For 250gm of flour I get 2 x 8" pizza. It was too much for the 2 of us.

I have put too much toppings on the pizza so it was a bit heavy on the top. I definitely have to reduce the toppings next time.

I have shrimps, crab sticks, tuna flakes, pineapples, tomatoes, capsicum, onions and button mushroom for the toppings.

Fruit tarts (1)

2009-06-07T23:07:00.011+08:00

I bake some dragon fruit and honeydew fruit tarts today. The fruit tarts looks so cute.

I showed my mother some honey dew ones from afar and she asked if those are rambutans?

150gm of high protein flour + 100gm of super white flour plus 150gm butter and 1 egg could get you about 100 pieces of tarts. That was too many for me.

But don't worry, you could always store them in an airtight container for later use.

Marble cake

2009-06-06T20:01:00.009+08:00

I baked a colourful marble cake today. It looks like a patchwork. I like the colours. The cake is buttery and nice.

Surprisingly, my daughter who doesn't like butter cake said she likes this cake after eating a piece just now.

You can get the recipe from http://www.y3k.com.my/

But I change the recipe a bit. I did not use peppermint flavouring, I use pandan paste for the green portion. You can't taste the pandan flavour actually.

I use 180g butter, 100g castor sugar, 180g self raising flour instead of what was stated on the recipe.

Blueberry cheese tart and Egg tart

2009-06-02T13:25:00.006+08:00

The first time I baked some blueberry cheese tarts the cheese turned out hard and dry because I over baked the cheese.

I gave it another try this morning and this time I was careful not to over baked the cheese. It turned out perfect.

I baked some big ones and some mini ones. The mini ones I use half the baking time of the big ones.

I don't want to bake so many of the cheese tarts so I kept some dough for egg tarts. I decided to give egg tarts a try. It is my first try on egg tarts.

Surprisingly, the egg tarts turned out really well and tasted yummy too.

Fondant birthday cake

2009-05-30T23:21:00.008+08:00

I have to bake a birthday cake today and I was eager to try out the fondant cake decoration I learned last week. I was worried that it will not turn out well because it will be my first try on a real cake.

I use only fondant icing. I couldn't find gum tragacanth at both the bakery stores near to my house so I can't make any gum paste. I don't want the cake to look too plain so I came up with some simple design for the cake.

I have to get some colouring for the fondant but both the stores that I frequent don't have it. The sales lady at one of the store told me I could use normal food colouring. I took her advice and the colour turn out quiet good.

The cake decoration turned out better than I expected.

I use butter cake and frost it with butter cream before I covered it with the fondant icing. Probably I have added too much milk to the batter of the butter cake because as you can see in the photo the cake looked a bit damp. But overall, the cake is still okay.

Fondant cake is actually nice to see but not nice to eat. The fondant icing is very sweet. When I eat the cake I threw the fondant away. The fondant icing I made actually tasted quiet good because I added butter vanilla flavouring to it. But I can't eat it because it is too sweet.

It is actually fun decorating and work on the design for the cake and I will try out a few more soon.

Rose garden

2009-05-29T18:34:00.020+08:00

I was lucky to get the opportunity to stay at my Technical Manager house in Hamilton and then my MD's house in Auckland when I visited our NZ HQ in 1995.

Below is my Technical Manager's garden, it look awesome to me because I don't see flowers blooming this well in my neighbourhood. I like the roses the most.

He has a few plum trees too. Unfortunately I didn't get to eat any plum because they weren't ripe yet.

And, this is my MD's grapefruit tree. Too bad I didn't get to taste it.

Both my MD and Technical Manager has a great family and they are great host too. I had a great time staying with them and the memories will last forever.

Few years later I tried to grow some roses in my garden but it didn't turn out well. Guess the weather here is just not suitable for roses.

After a while the leaves became dry and full of holes, I guess there must be some bugs that is eating the leaves. I have got rid of all the rose plants.

Gardening

2009-05-29T09:14:00.019+08:00

I love gardening when I am not baking. Lately I have been crazy over baking that I have neglected my garden for a while. I have a small garden and every now and then I like to move things around a bit so I don't get bored looking at the same things all the time.

I love plants that grows on the water. I had all the lotus plants for more than 6 years already and they are still growing very well and blooming every once in a while. I have both the yellow and pink flower lotus.

I love plant that bear fruits too. Since I have a small garden I grow most of the fruit plant in the pot except the grape plant. Those I have in the pot are longan, pomelo, mini apple, pomegranate and 2 different type of limes.

Guess, I have to spare some time tidying up the garden already.

Mini chocolate cupcakes with butter cream

2009-05-27T22:34:00.006+08:00

The butter cream I made yesterday was very sweet. I used 230gm icing sugar with 113g unsalted butter. It is just too sweet for me. I gave it another try today but I change to another recipe that I got.

Today I use 120gm (recipe said 240gm) icing sugar with 105gm margarine. Both my mother and my brother said it is still sweet. But my SIL and I think today's butter cream is okay. I like the recipe that I use today. However, I will give it another try some other day and will reduce the icing sugar to 80gm.

I bake some mini chocolate cupcakes to go with the butter cream today. I like the chocolate cupcake recipe. It is moist and delicious. In the picture below you will see that the cake cracked at the top but it is not dry.

My brother said the chocolate cake is bitter but I felt it is okay when eat together with the butter cream.

Vanilla cupcake with butter cream

2009-05-26T17:06:00.006+08:00

I was eager try out the cupcakes recipe I got from the web. So I baked some this morning. The cake is nice with a bit moist but the butter cream is a too sweet to my liking. Guess I have to look for other butter cream recipe.

Fondant cake decoration

2009-05-24T17:07:00.007+08:00

See my 3rd cake decoration..... a speedy improvement comparing to the previous two times right?

ha ha ha.... the decoration is real but the cake is not.

I was really curious to know what is fondant and so I attended fondant cake decoration class today. It was really interesting and fun to learn about fondant and gum paste and what you are able to do with it. I still needs lots of practices and I just can't wait to do it on a real cake and see how's the result. A big thank you to Teacher Yasmin Sanusi.

Assorted jelly & Mum's chicken curry

2009-05-22T17:17:00.011+08:00

My mother asked me to have dinner at her house tonight, she is cooking chicken curry. Another of my daughter's favourite dish.

But nowadays the weather is so hot and dry, so I thought I will made something that is cooling for dessert. I made some jelly and I will take over to my mother's place tonight.

My mother blended her own secret recipe chilly paste for all her curry. The aroma is so nice and the curry is simply irresistible.

Unlike me, I only know how to cook with the ready-mix chilly paste. I still got so much to learn.

Cuttlefish & shrimp curry

2009-05-19T12:15:00.006+08:00

My daughter is going to be very happy when she comes home from school today. I cooked her favourite cuttlefish dish.

I use the chilli paste that my mum made. My mum doesn't do baking but she is very good at cooking and the chilli paste she made is very nice for any curry dish.

I am lazy to go to the shop to get the freshly grated coconut so I use whipping cream instead of santan. Taste just as good.

Coconut bun & Mini sausage bun

2009-05-19T08:05:00.008+08:00

I love baking bread the most because I love the aroma from the baking filled up my kitchen. The aroma make me feel good guess that is why I like to go to bakery shop or just walk by them will also be enough.

I baked some coconut buns and sausage buns yesterday.

The buns are soft and nice.

I tried to roll the buns as round as possible but every time it failed. The roundness just dissapear during the final proofing. I wonder if there is a special way to roll the buns?

Orange Chiffon in the cups

2009-05-19T07:44:00.007+08:00

I like the pandan chiffon in the cups and since it turned out so well, I thought I will change the receipe a bit and make some orange chiffon and will see if it turn out well.

I ran out of fresh orange at home and I don't felt like going to the hyper market because there is always a crowd on Sundays. So I asked my daughter to get some orange juice from 7-eleven.

The cake turned out well. It was slightly dry on the top at the begining but it turned soft and nice after several hours later. The cake was still yummy after the third day.

Pandan Chiffon in paper cup

2009-05-16T11:21:00.007+08:00

I tried the pandan chiffon recipe from bakingmum, the cake was really good and yummy. I bake some more in the paper cup again last Thursday and it was just as yummy as the first time I bake them.

Butter cake

2009-05-16T10:58:00.005+08:00

I bake 2 butter cakes yesterday, I gave one to the security guard lady at my daughter's school and the other one to my mum. My mum and all her friends like my butter cake but I don't know why my daughter doesn't like it.

Chicken curry & bread

2009-05-16T10:39:00.009+08:00

My daughter prefer to have her chicken curry with bread instead of rice. I use the ready mix curry powder for the chicken curry and it's very easy to cook, taste quiet good too.

Below are the photos:

Pandan Birthday Cake

2009-05-13T08:34:00.010+08:00

It was my SIL birthday yesterday so I baked her a cake. It was my second cake decoration, just a simple decoration as I need lots more practices. However, the cake was yummy. The pandan smell was great.

Here are the photos:

The rest of the batter I put them into paper cups and bake for 30 minutes. My daughter took some to school today.

I still have one more birthday cake to bake this month. I have not decide what I will bake yet.

Omelette

2009-05-12T21:01:00.009+08:00

I always taught my daughter not to waste her food so I got to think of what to do with the leftover fillings from the meat bun. I guess if I add some round cabbage, carrots, onions, fresh mushrooms and eggs I could get omelette and below is what I get:

Meat Bun

2009-05-11T22:11:00.008+08:00

I wanted to bake something last Friday since I was a bit free. But I don't have some of the ingredients so I change the recipe to suit what I have. I don't have the flour for pau so I replaced it with sweet bread dough. I don't have chicken meat so I use pork and I don't have water-chestnuts so I use potatoes.

Here's what I get:

The bun is soft and luckily it taste good too.

Chocolate Chiffon Cake

2009-05-10T23:33:00.006+08:00

I asked my daughter what she would like for breakfast and school tomorrow, she told me anything but butter cake. I like butter cake but I am not sure why my daughter doesn't like it. She asked me to bake her a chocolate chiffon cake. So I baked one for her today. Guess I am getting better at baking chiffon cake now.

Here are some photos to share:

Green Tea Chiffon Cake

2009-05-10T22:21:00.010+08:00

I baked a Green Tea Chiffon Cake last week, it was my third try and it's getting better.

Here are some photos to share:

I put some chocolate chips but I don't quiet like it. I felt it tasted kind of funny. I will go without the chocolate chips next time.

Bread - Dried Fruit & Nut milky bread

2009-05-09T10:47:00.017+08:00

I fell in love with baking bread so I tried out another recipe for bread last week.

The texture is soft and it tasted good too.

I will post the recipe if there is a request, meanwhile I will only post the photos.

Tomato & Cabbage Fried Rice

2009-05-07T10:40:00.009+08:00

I don't usually follow a recipe when I cook, what's important is what I can find in my fridge.

I decided to cook some fried rice today for my daughter's lunch as I have some leftover rice in the fridge.

Here's what I come up with and it tasted quiet good. I think children will like it.

The ingredients are:
Ingredient A : Some shredded round cabbage, 1 tomato diced, 1 carrot diced, 2 mushrooms cut strips, some pork cut strips, some dried shrimps and some chopped garlic.
For seasoning : a bit of pepper powder, a bit of light soy sauce, a bit of sugar and 3 tbsp leggo's bolognese sauce
Ingredient B : 1 big bowl of white rice, some sweet corns and 2 large eggs.

Yummy Bak Chang 肉粽

2009-05-06T09:19:00.012+08:00

My mother learned to cook bak-chang because I love to eat bak-chang when I was young. I remember her learning from our neighbour's MIL and the neighbour's kids will complaint that she is spoiling all their leaves.
But she never give up, she took some leaves home and continue to practice with the uncooked rice.

Mum's bak chang is simply delicious. All my friends who have tasted it loves it.

Two years back I kept some frozen in the freezer for more than one year but it was still good and yummy.

My mother puts mushrooms, chestnuts, oysters, salty egg and porks in her bak chang. Below are some photos of the bak chang she recently made.

Eating one is simply not enough.

Baking - Cake decoration

2009-04-28T22:05:00.008+08:00

We have a birthday dinner for my father every year and this year my mother told my sister-in-law that she don't have to buy my father a birthday cake as I will be baking one. Gosh, where did she came up with that idea I wonder?

Well, I tried out several chiffon cake recipes I got from the web and also from cooking books. My failure rate seems higher than my successful rate. The cake seems to rise very well when it is still in the oven but then it will shrink during the cooling process. I just don't get it. Well, I have not given up yet.

And, I got really nervous as the day came closer and so got some fast thinking to do. Then, I came up with this really great plan. I will bake 2 cakes and if it did not turn up well I could still use half the cake and 2 half will make a complete cake right? Well, as long as I can get the height of the cake right, that will be okay to me.

And, I was glad I baked 2 cakes and well I guess the end result wasn't too bad, see the pictures:

That's my very first cake decorations. I will be trying out more next month as I have 2 birthday cakes on order. One's for my SIL and the other is for my future SIL. Wish me luck!

Baking- Raisin Bread

2009-04-28T17:34:00.011+08:00

Following the success of my previous bread baking, I tried another new recipe yesterday. I was glad it turned out really well. See for yourself.....

The surface look a bit dry because I did not use the egg wash. I prefer it that way. My mum and my daughter said it taste very good. The texture is soft and it was still soft the next day.

Here's the recipe if you will like to give it a try too.

Ingredient A: 500g high protein flour, 11g instant yeast
Ingredient B: 60g castor sugar and 8g salt dilute in 250g water, 25g milk powder, 1 whole egg.
Ingredient C: 60g butter (I use the salted ones)
Ingredient D: 75g raisin (I mix both the black and the yellow together), 25g almond flakes

Method:
1. Combine Ingredient A, add in milk powder then the egg and follow by the water solution. Mix until it all clings together.
2. Then add in Ingredient C and continue to let it knead until a smooth and elastic dough is formed.
3. Add in Ingredient D, mix well.
4. Let the dough rest in a warm place for about 1 hour until it doubled in size.
5. Divide the dough into 300g each portion and roll it round.
6. Transfer it to a greased square baking pan and let it proof for another 1 hour.
7. Brush with egg wash and bake in preheated oven at 180 degC for 20mins.

I will continue to try something new and will be posting it in my blog.

Baking- bread

2009-03-11T21:02:00.012+08:00

I enjoy baking but somehow I always fail at baking bread. I just don't know what went wrong as the bread always turned out too hard. I use the oven for baking. I have tried several recipes that I found in books and even the one that my mum's friend showed me. But everytime it just failed. Maybe I should buy a bread maker instead? I heard it is easy, just throw in all the ingredients and you get the bread you want.

But before that, I thought maybe I should just give it one more try. Anyway, I got this recipe for wholemeal bread from http://y3kfreerecipes.blogspot.com/search/label/Bread which I haven't try yet. And most importantly, the instruction is very easy to follow.

I got almost all the ingredient for the recipe except the soya bean powder and so I substitute it with milk powder instead and guess what happened?

The wholemeal loaf turned out unexpectedly well. I couldn't believe it myself. The loaf was soft and the texture was nice. It tasted good as well.

I thought it was just one time lucky and so I try the recipe again the next day and it turned out just as good as the first one.

Wow, guess I don't need a bread maker now.

For those who will like to try out the recipe, you can find it in http://y3kfreerecipes.blogspot.com/search/label/Bread

I will try out other recipe soon.