Luncheon Buns

January 14, 2011 · Filed under Chinese Oriental Recipes, Desserts and Pastries, Recipes

I am experiencing different methods of making buns or bread in the kitchen and this is one of the basic recipe I used. And this recipe is easy to handle for beginner. You do not need a breadmaker or a electric mixer to knead the dough though it is easier and faster if you have the latter.

Personally I used the electric mixer to knead the dough for me and the last bit, then after proofing, I hand-knead from there. So if you do not have a electric mixer, it will required your hand muscle to do the job and it can be tiring for the arms.

The dough can be used for any filling that you like, I used luncheon meat since we were at home and it was a gloomy, raining day that we were too lazy to go out and get other ingredient since we have 2 cans of luncheon meat in the cabinets.

Ingredients:
250g Plain flour
20g Milk powder
120ml Milk
30g Sugar
1pkt Dry yeast
1/2 egg
1pinch salt
15g butter, soften to room temperature

Method:
1. Warm up the milk to about 60C and dissolve the sugar in it. Add the dry yeast and stir it to combine. Let it rest for 10 minutes till bubbles appear. At the meantime, grease a bowl for proofing.

2. Sift flour into a mixing bowl, add egg and yeast mixture and blend it well at low speed till you get a rough dough form.

3. Add in salt and butter, mix till evenly dispersed. Increase to medium speed and knead dough till elastic.

4. Then handknead on a floured surface to form into a ball. Transfer it to the grease bowl, use cling wrap or a warm wet towel to cover it and place it at a warm place of about 29C for proofing or in warm water for proofing about 45 to 60 minutes till it double in size. Start to preheat oven to 200C.

5. Punch the centre down and if dent remain meant dough is ready. Knead the dough on a floured surface and divide into smaller parts and knead into a ball each. Cover with cling wrap and let them rest for 10 to 15 minutes.

6. Flattening the dough and fill with your desired filling which I used luncheon meat.

7. After filling, seal up properly with the sealing part at the bottom and proof it a second time for 40 minutes till it double in size.

8. Egg wash the top and bake it in preheated oven for about 20 to 30 minutes or the top turn golden brown.

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Chocolate Pie (Chocolate Tarts)

January 14, 2011 · Filed under Desserts and Pastries, Recipes

I used to make chocolate pie too when I was in Vancouver and have the recipe somewhere in the house. When my older boy and I saw Cindy’s chocolate pie, my boy kept asking me to make one too. When I could not find my recipe, I asked Cindy who ever ready to share her recipe and the boys in the house had a great time after dinner one evening savouring the whole chocolate pie at one go.

When I was doing my cleaning up and packing in the kitchen one day, I found my original recipe and the different is the one I have used double cream and Cindy’s recipe was just cream. Nevertheless, this pie is as yummy as the other I used to make.

Chocolate Pie

Ingredients:

For the crust:
180g digestive biscuits
90g butter, melted

Filling:
280g your favourite dark choc of any brand, chopped
260g cream (Nestle cream according to Cindy.)

Method:
1. Blitz biscuits into fine sand using food processor. Stir in melted butter. Press mixture into a 24-cm tart tin. Chill in fridge while you prepare the filling.

2. Bring cream to boil in a saucepan. Remove from heat and pour over your bowl of chopped choc. Stir it until cream and choc combine into a smooth and shiny mixture.

3. Fill the tart tin with the choc mixture and put it back into the fridge and chill for at least 4 hours. (Best to chill overnight.)

4. Use your creativity to decorate it to your liking before serving it.

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Chicken Baked Rice

January 9, 2011 · Filed under Recipes, Western Recipes

Ingredients:
1 slice chicken breast fillet, cut into smaller pieces
200g lean bacon, cut into bits
1 cup champignon mushroom, prefer fresh ones, sliced (canned one can be used too.)
1 cup mixed vegetables
3 tbsps unsalted butter
1 can Campbell cream of mushroom
3 slice ham, cut into small pieces [optional, my boy requested]
1 packet Mozzarella cheese
2 cups rice grains
1 clove garlic, sliced
1 clove small onion, chopped into small bits

Method:
1. Cook the rice in the rice cooker as usual and prepare all the other ingredient.

2. Preheat the oven to 375F (190 degree Celius).

3. Heat up butter and stir-fry onion till fragrance, then add in the garlic and bacon bits and fry till garlic is golden brown.

3. When the rice is cooked, stir in the butter-onion-garlic-bacon mixture together with mixed vegetables.

4. Scoop some of the rice mixture into the baking tray, spread a layer of cream of mushroom then add the other ingredients like mushroom, chicken, ham, etc and sprinkle some cheese.

5. Add another layer of rice, a layer of cream of mushroom, the ingredients and sprinkle some cheese.

6. Add the last layer if rice, a layer of cream of celery and the ingredients. And this time sprinkle the cheese to cover all the ingredients.

7. Put into the preheated oven and cooked for about 20 minutes or till the cheese is slightly golden brown.

8. Served straight with salad and cream of mushroom soup.

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Tiramisu

December 22, 2010 · Filed under Desserts and Pastries, Recipes, Western Recipes

My dear hubby said that I need to update my recipe for Tiramisu before my memory fails me. I personally love this tiramisu even though I am not a coffee drinker. Most Tiramisu recipe only used the egg whites or the egg yolks but this one used the whole egg.

I also want to thank a friend who helped me with the quantity of the egg whites and Mascarpone Cheese used so that I do not have to waste lots of time trial and error in the kitchen as I lost the original recipe.

So here, it is my dear hubby’s favourite Tiramisu recipe…

Ingredients:
Part 1
8 egg yolks (I used large eggs.)
1/2cup raw sugar
1/2cup Marsala wine
1/2 tbsp Bailey Irish Cream (Can also used Kahlua or other liqueur you prefer.)
{This part is for the zabaglione.}

Part 2
8 egg whites
250 ml whip cream

Part 3
2 cups strong Espresso
2 tbsp raw sugar
1 cup Marsala wine
11/2 tbsp Bailey Irish Cream
Sponge Fingers

Other
2 tubs Mascarpone Cheese
1 packet Dutch Cocoa Powder

Method:
1. Work on Ingredients Part 3 first, make 2 cups of strong Espresso coffee and stir in the sugar. Leave it to cool down.

2. Prepare iced water in a bath for Ingredient Part 1.

3. Proceed to Ingredients Part 1, whisk the egg yolks with the sugar in a bowl well till pale and thick. Then double boiled the mixture over simmering water, add in Marsala wine slowly and stir the mixture continuously till it thickens to custard-like (thick fluid form, takes about 7minutes). Then add in the Bailey Irish Cream.

4. Remove the bowl of mixture from the double boiled and cool it over the iced water bath to stop cooking and cooling it down. Whisk the mixture occasionally while preparing Ingredients Part 2 so that it remains thick and creamy instead of congregated.

5. While the zabaglione is cooling down, beat the egg whites till stiff peak and in another separate bowl, beat the whip cream till thick and after the soft peak stage.

6. When the zabaglione has completed cooled down, we can mix the tiramisu cream together. One portion of zabaglione to Mascarpone Cheese, fold in gently till well-blended and smooth, then a portion of egg white and cream, fold in gently till well-blended and smooth. Continue till all portions are mixed together. (I break into 3 portions for zabaglione, cream and egg whites.)

7. Proceed to Ingredient Part 3, by now, the espresso should have cooled down. Add in the Marsala wine and Bailey Irish Cream.

8. Dip the sponge fingers into the espresso mixture till moist but not sodden and line the bottom of the cake tray/dish with them.

9. Layer half of the Tiramisu Cream over the top of the biscuits. Then with cocoa powder.

10. Repeat another layer of dipped sponge fingers, Tiramisu Cream and cocoa powder. Bang the cake tray/dish firmly to make the Tiramisu Cream settle into the gaps between the biscuits. Cover with a layer of kitchen transparent wrap and chill overnight.

11. Before serving, can dust with another layer of cocoa powder.

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Steamed Pumpkin Cake

November 26, 2010 · Filed under Chinese Oriental Recipes

My cousin-in-law was asking me whether this dish that I have a photo of in my facebook account, the recipe was from my aunty. I will only said that it is a modification that I made from the carrot cake recipe, my aunty’s recipe as well as my own through experimenting and trial and error.

I remember eating this dish when I was young when my aunty who used to dish up different yummy dishses when we stayed at her place during the holidays. She enjoys toiling away in the kitchen, dishing up yummy food for all of us. When I was asking her about this dish, she could not recall the measurement for all the ingredients and so through the trial and error, I gotten the dish out. If memory did not fail me, I remembered she used Chinese ham instead.

Ingredients:

500g rice flour
500g Japanese Pumpkin
150-200g dried shrimps (soaked and then pounded)
10-15 stalks mushrooms ( amount is optional, soaked and cut into cube )
*1400 ml water from the water of the mushroom and dried prawns.
2 teaspoons salt
300g roast pork (or 2-3 Chinese sausage)
10 to 15 shallots ( blended to paste )
10 pips garlic ( finely chopped )
1/4 onion (finely chopped)
* Put rice flour into the 1400 ml of water. Add the salt and pepper.
Slowly stir the mixture with
your hands and mix well.

Garnishing Ingredients:
spring onions cut fine
red chillies, sliced
fried shallots

Method:

1. Cut the pumpkin into small cubes or dices. Steamed it till soft.

2. Stir -fry onions. When lightly brown, add garlic.

3. Add dried shrimps, when fragrant, add roast pork/chinese sausage.

4. Add mushrooms and stir-fry. Then add diced pumpkin and stir-fry.

5. Mixed rice flour to the mushroom and dry shrimp water and mix well.

6. Add rice flour mixture. Gently stir-fry until everything in the wok becomes thickens.

7. Add the mixture into a tray and steam for about 1/2 h or until the mixture is cooked.

**NB: Please adjust seasoning according to your own taste-buds.

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Banana Cake

November 24, 2010 · Filed under Desserts and Pastries, Recipes

I used this recipe to clear off the very ripe bananas at home instead of throwing them away in the rubbish bin. I have a runner at home and another in the making, we ended up buying quite a bit of bananas. So to make sure that we do not waste food that God had provided, I find ways to use them.

Straight from the oven...

Before I could take a photo of the cake taken out from the tray, it was eaten by the boys…

Ingredients:
150g very ripe bananas, peeled and mashed
2 tsp lime juice/lemon juice (I prefer the lime juice)
150g butter (Oil can be used as substitute too)
2/3 cup raw sugar
3 eggs
1 1/4 cup self-raising flour
1/4 tsp baking soda

Banana cake

Method:
1. Line the base of a 7-inch round cake tin with waxed paper and brush the sides lightly with softened butter.

2. Preheat oven to 340F (170C).

3. In a small bowl, mash the bananas with a fork and stir in the lime juice. Set aside.

4. Beat the butter and sugar together with an electric mixer or wooden spoon until light and fluffy. Pour the beaten eggs in a little at a time, beating well between additions.

5. Use a large metal spoon, fold in half the flour and baking soda without stirring or beating the mixture.

6. Fold in the mashed bananas until well incorporated and then add the remaining flour and baking soda.

7. Turn the mixture out into the tin. Hollow out the centre slightly to prevent it rising to a dome in the middle.

8. Bake in the preheated oven for about 40-45minutes or till cake is well risen and golden brown.

9. Allow cake to cool in the tin for 10 minutes before running a knife around the edges and turning it out to cool on a wire tray.

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Pizza Dough

November 24, 2010 · Filed under Desserts and Pastries, Western Recipes

This is one of recipes that i used to experiment food with my elder boy. He enjoys watching me cook and bake and many a time, i allowed him to play around with the ingredients and we had a wonderful time dishing up items in the kitchen.

And this is one that he used and baked pizza for his preschool friends in Canada and how time flies that he is already completing his Year 1 and going to Year 2 soon. My baby has grown up like a wink of the eyes. And a friend was asking me for an easy to make Pizza Dough to work with her child. I am hoping that in a few months time, my younger one can also work on this and have as much fun as his brother in the kitchen with me.

Pizza Dough

Ingredients:
1 tsp fine sugar
150ml warm water
8g of active dry yeast (Those in a packet)
30ml of vegetable oil (I used Canola oil)
11/2 cup all purpose flour (use a measuring cup)
1/2 tsp salt
Extra flour for knead (do not need much)

Method:
1. Dissolve the sugar in the warm water and then sprinkle with yeast. Let it stand for 10 minute until bubbly and double in volume. Then add in the oil.

2. In another bowl, sift flour and salt while waiting for the yeast mixture to be ready. Make a well in the centre, pour in the yeast mixture. Can either use a fork to blend together or use the hand (I prefer the hand) to form a dough. And then gather into a ball.

3. Turn out onto lightly floured surface and knead for 5 to 10 minutes, add in enough flour just be make it into soft, slightly sticky dough. Place dough into a greased bowl, turning it once to grease all over. Cover bowl with a greased wax paper and a tea towel. Let it stand in the lighted oven without a little of heat for 1hr to 2hr until it tripled in size.

4. Punch down dough and form into a ball. Turn it onto a lightly floured surface and cover with a bowl. Let it stand for 10 minutes. Roll out dough into 12 inch circle (about 30cm).

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Been busy…

November 24, 2010 · Filed under Recipes

It has been a long time since I update this foodblog, not that I stop baking or cooking or experimenting with food. In fact, I have been experimenting with lots of stuff, baking for my younger boy’s 1st birthday Hi-tea Celebration and catering to my elder boy’s requests.

it has been a long while due to the terrible morning sickness, been on bedrest through my 2nd pregnancy and making my way back to the comfort of my homeland with my elder boy for the delivery of my younger boy. And been pampered a bit back home with all the yummy food that I do not really need to cook.

And then flying back to join my husband after about 8 months away back home, we were busy with shifting and moving to a new place. The priority of making sure that both boys have enough of our attention and playing with them and working with them, left me with a bit of “me” time that I could utilize to trying out new recipes, modified them and all been handwritten down in a exercise book that i hardly had the time to update here.

Bear with me as I work as a snail to update being alone taking care of two active but fun boys, that I have to come up with lots of activities to keep them occupied and also on the run for new activities.

And with the summer approaching, more time out into the nature to enjoy God’s creation, time to smell the fresh air, aroma of the flowers, the chirping of the birds and the cool breeze near the sea.

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Just some sharing…

November 11, 2008 · Filed under Recipes

Here’s some of the dishes and food that I have cooked up in the last few weeks and times that I remember to take photos of them…

ABC Soup
abc-soup

Bak Kut Teh
bak-kut-teh

Chicken Porridge
chicken-porridge

Braised Meat & Other ingredients
braised-meat-and-other-ingredients

Egg Plants in Meat Sauce
egg-plants-in-mince-pork-sauce

Chicken in Broccoli Nest
chicken-carrot-in-broccoli-nest

Zucchini in Dark Bean Paste
zucchin1i

Sample of rice boxes for my dear husband,

Lunchbox 1
lunch1

Lunchbox2
lunch2

Lunchbox3
lunch31

There are some more photos in my camera like two different types of sushi-one is the normal roll up one and one using fried salmon bites to mixed into the rice with sesame seeds, etc and using the mould Sheryln has given me, thanks for the mould, Kai loves them. There are also baked donuts, snowskin mooncakes, homemade-egg tarts. And other that I have taken before like ondeh ondeh, satays, etc. And also things like niang tofu, asian pasta, western pasta, laska that I am too lazy to upload for the time being.

I have been making quite a bit of nonya kueh as I am craving for them but lack the discipline or motivation to upload them,all from the recipes I copied from my mum when I was home earlier this year.

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Pork Chops with Baked Beans

September 12, 2008 · Filed under Chinese Oriental Recipes, Recipes

We hardly eat pork at home but once in a while we do not take a little. Not to sure, we are not used to the strong smell of pork and mutton(simply do not eat mutton.) And here’s one of our favourites when we eat pork, “Pork Chop with Baked Beans” or simply another version of sweet and sour sauces just that I did not prepared the sauce instead used Baked Beans.

Ingredients:
500g Pork Loin (Slice into 5-7 pcs and pound on both sides)
3tbsp Cornstarch
10pcs Square Biscuit Cracker (pound into crumbs)
2 tbsp Light Soya Sauce
1tbsp Sesame Oil
1 Egg (beaten)
½pot Oil (very small pot of oil)
1 big can Baked Beans (Heiz)

Method:
1. Add the light soya sauce and sesame oil to the pork and allow it to season for an hour.
2. Heat up the oil to medium heat.
3. Place one slice of pork into the beaten egg, remove and put into the cornstarch.
4. Then, place it into the egg again, remove and place it into the biscuit crumbs.
5. Next, place it slowly into the oil to be deep fried.
6. When it is golden brown, remove.
7. Continue the process with the next couple of pieces.
8. When everything is done, cut them into small slice.
9. Served with heated baked beans.

Hint: Steamed the bake beans on top of the rice cooker while cooking rice.

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