Steamed Chocolate Custard Pudding

 

Chocolatey yet not over-powering. Sweetness to my liking and texture is smooth... Just 10 minutes to prepare and 15 minutes to cook.

Serve 4

Ingredients:

- 250ml of milk

- 2 eggs

- 2 tbs of cocoa powder (unsweetened)

- 2 tbs of fine sugar

1) In a bowl, whisk the eggs and sugar. Add in milk and cocoa powder and whisk till combined.

2) Run the mixture through a sieve 2-3 times. Ladle mixture into ramekins and cover with aluminium foil.

3) Bring water in pan/pot to boil and steam mixture at medium heat for 15 minutes.

4) Serve warm or chilled. If serving it chilled, let cool in room temperature before chilling in fridge.

Enjoy!

Click here for a step-by-step tutorial.

Dango 団子

 

Dango 団子is a Japanese sweet dumpling. Usually, 3 to 5 dangos are skewered onto a stick and they are best served with a cuppa green tea. There are in fact many different varieties of dango and I made the  Mitarashi Dango / みたらし団子 . These dangos are served/coated with a sweet and savory sauce made from shouyu (soy sauce), sugar and starch.

(Source: Wikipedia) Types of dango:

• YangoDango: Commonly known as (sweetened) red bean paste, while ingredients other than azuki are used on rare occasions.
• Chadango: Green-tea flavored Dango.
• Bocchan dango: Dango that has three colors. One is colored by red beans, the second by eggs, and the third by green tea.
• Denpun dango: Variety of dango from Hokkaidō made from potato flour and baked with sweet boiled beans
• Kuri dango: Dango coated in chestnut paste
• Chichi dango: Slightly sweet light treats usually eaten as a dessert.
• Hanami dango: Also has three colors, Hanami dango is traditionally made during Sakura-viewing season. Hence the name Hanami (Hanami means "flower viewing"; hana meaning "flower", and mi meaning "to see").
• Goma: sesame seeds. It is both sweet and salty.
• Kibi dango: Dango made with millet flour. This variety is prominently featured in the tale of Momotaro, a folkloric Japanese hero, who offers them to three talking animals in exchange for their aid in fighting demons.
• Kinako: A toasted soy flour.
• Kushi dango: Dango held by a skewer
• Mitarashi: Covered with a syrup made from shouyu (soy sauce), sugar and starch.
• Nikudango A type of meatball.
• Teppanyaki: Dango on a skewer with a tangy teppanyaki taste.
• Sasa dango: Dango that is produced and eaten primarily in Niigata Prefecture. Sasa dango has two varieties: "Onna Dango" and "Otoko Dango." Onna Dango (literally "Female Dango") is filled with anko, while the otoko dango (literally "Male Dango") is filled with kinpira. The dango is wrapped in leaves of sasa for the purpose of preservation.

Using 1/2 tbs dough, this recipe yields roughly 30 dangos - 10 sticks (Note: making them into characters will yield lesser pieces)

Ingredient for dough:

- 2 cups of glutinous powder/glutinous rice flour

- 2/3 cups water (a lil more or less if necessary so always add the water gradually)

- 2 tsp of sugar

- coloring (optional unless u want to make them into fun characters)

Ingredient for sauce:

- 1 tbs sugar

- 1 tbs soy sauce

- 3 tbs (60ml) water

- starch water (1/2 tbs corn/potato flour dissolved in 1/2 tbs water)

1) Combine glutinous powder, sugar and water and knead until a dough is formed. Divide the dough using 1/2 tbs portion and roll them into balls. Bring a pot of water to boil and cook the dango. The dango floats when it's cooked. Cook for another min or two and ladle out the dango and place in a bowl of cold water. Skewer the dango in 3's and grill in a lightly oiled pan until they are a little char.

2) In a small pot or saucepan, combine the sugar, soy sauce and water. Heat up over small flame, stirring occasionally and bring the mixture to a boil. Stir in the corn starch. Keep stirring until sauce mixture thickens. Off heat.

3) Coat dango with the sauce using a brush. Serve immediately.

Enjoy!

Osmanthus Flower Jelly 桂花果冻

 

Had a pack of konnyaku jelly powder sitting in the cabinet for so long. Think its kinda boring to make fruits konnyaku jelly. So giving this Osmanthus flower jelly a try which is perfect for the warm weather and not to mention, the health benefits of this flower. Dried Osmanthus flowers can be found in most traditional medical halls.

(Source: Divine Glowing Health) Benefits of Osmanthus Flower:

◾Dispels cold and dampness in the body.

◾Wonderful for treating colds, they can get decrease the mucus caused by inflamed lungs and reduce coughing.

◾Improves overall lung health.

◾Treats menstrual pain, as well as regular stomach pain.

◾Treats tooth aches

◾Warms stomach, improves digestion, treats intestinal diseases and reduces the amount of stomach gas.

◾Used to tranquilise an active liver.

◾Removes many toxins from the body.

◾Brilliant for enhancing eyesight, reducing bad breath and moisturising the skin.

◾Lastly, it’s a great thirst quencher.

Ingredients:

- 1 pack of pre-sweetened konnyaku jelly powder (the one I used requires 500ml of water)

- 2 tsp dried Osmanthus flowers

- 500ml water

- 1-2 tsp wolfberries (soak for 15-20 min until puffy)

1) Bring the water to boil and lower the flame. Add in konnyaku jelly powder, osmanthus flowers and wolfberries (drained away water for soaking).

2) Cooked for another 5 minutes until jelly powder is dissolved. Off heat. Let mixture cool off slightly and ladle into moulds.

3) Let cool, chill in fridge until set. Serve chilled.

Enjoy!

Red Bean Soup with Glutinous Rice Balls

Red bean soup, a traditional sweet soup cooked using Azuki beans. I had mine added with glutinous rice balls :)

Ingredient for Red Bean Soup:

- 1 cup red beans (rinsed and soak overnight)

- 5 to 7 tbs (5 just right for me but u may want it a lil sweet coz the rice balls are not sweetened)

- 1/2 cup small sago (aka pearl sago/tapioca pearls)

- 8 to10 cups water

- 3-5 pandan leaves (knotted)

- 3 dried tangerine peel (optional)

Ingredient for Glutinous Rice Balls:

For the white dough:

- 2 cups glutinous powder (or glutinous rice flour)

- 2/3 cup water (To add gradually until dough formed. A lil more or less if necessary)

For the brown/black dough:

- 1/3 cup glutinous powder (or glutinous rice flour)

- a lil water

- 1 tsp cocoa powder and a lil brown coloring

1) In a pot, bring 8 cups of water, red beans (drain away the water used for soaking), dried tangerine peel and pandan leaves to a boil. With the pot partially covered, simmer for 1 to 1.5 hour until the beans are soft and during the period, stir occasionally and top up with water when necessary or if u prefer it with more water. I used 10 cups. Note: U may cook it longer too until the beans have break down to your desired texture.

2) Bring a small pot to boil and add in the sago. Cooked for 10 minutes and stir occasionally until sago turned partially translucent. Off heat and leave sago in pot for 10-15 minutes until totally translucent which represent it's fully cooked. Ladle out the sago into a sieve and rinse sago in running tap water. Keep sago in a bowl of drinking water and set aside until ready to use.

3) Mix glutinous powder with water (add gradually) until a dough is form. Using 1/2 tbs portion (roughly 11-13g), roll dough into balls between palms. To shape the panda glutinous rice balls, please

view tutorial here. Bring a pot of water to boil and cook the balls in it. It's done when they float. Plunge balls in a bowl of cold/ice water. It helps to prevent the balls from sticking to each other and on top of that, add to a more chewy/springly texture.

4) When the red bean soup is done, add sugar (to taste) and stir till sugar is dissolved.

5) Serve red bean soup with the glutinous rice balls and a tbs or two of the cooked sago. This dessert may be serve chilled too.

Enjoy!

Nutella Cinnamon Bread Pudding

 

Aromatic nutella cinnamon bread pudding. Yum!

Serves 4-6

Ingredients

- 8 slices of bread (at least a couple of days old)

- 2 cups of milk

- 2 eggs

- 3 heaps tbs of nutella

- 40g of butter

- 1/4 cup of castor sugar

- 1 tsp of vanilla essence

- 1 tsp of cinnamon

- 1 tbs of icing sugar

1) De-crust (Optional, u can leave it on too) the bread, cut into bite-size and arrange into a 8 x 8" baking pan or ramekin. *Click here to see how to turn the crust into cinnamon sticks so no worries, the crust wont go to waste* ;)

2) Mix the nutella into the cubed bread.

3) In a pot, combine the milk, castor sugar and butter. Boil under low flame until the butter melted and sugar dissolved. Remove from heat, add in the vanilla essence and give it a stir. Set aside.

4) Whisk the eggs. Add in the mixture from (3) into the whisked eggs and stir until combined. Pour mixture into the tray of cubed bread.

5) Sprinkle with cinnamon and let soak for 5 minutes.

6) Place baking pan on a baking plate/roasting pan half-filled with boiling water *We call this the water bath to prevent drying and curdling* Send into pre-heat oven and bake at 175c for 35 minutes or until the pudding is set.

7) Let cool for 10 minutes and dust pudding with icing sugar before serving. Leftover can be chilled in fridge which is equally divine. If u like it warm, it can be microwave too.

Enjoy!

Click here for a step-by-step tutorial.

Cinnamon & Sugar Churros

 

Churro is a fried-dough pastry sometimes being referred to as a Spanish doughnut.

I Love Cinnamons! So Im using a 4:1 proportion for the sugar and cinnamons mix. Here's a guide to what proportion you would like to use.

Sugar to Cinnamon
3:1 - 1/4 cup to 4 tsp

4:1 - 1/4 cup to 1 tbs

6:1 - 1/4 cup to 2 tsp

8:1 - 1/2 cup to 1 tbs or 2 tbs to 3/4 tsp

12:1 - 1 tbs to 1/4 tsp

*IMPORTANT NOTE: Use a piping syringe or a good and durable plastic piping bag. It's alright to use disposable piping bags too but remember to use at least 2-3 layers otherwise you may face a splitting and bursting bag with the dough flowing out. Geez...goey and messy! Talking from experience :P

Ingredients for dough:

- 1 cup plain flour (aka all purpose flour)

- 1 cup water

- 2 tbs (40ml) vegetable oil/olive oil (I used olive oil)

- 1 egg

- pinch of salt

Ingredients for the sugar and cinnamon mix (a 4:1 ratio):

- 1/4 cup powdered sugar (icing sugar)

- 1 tbs cinnamon powder

I used the happy call pan to fry the churros and 2 cups of vegetable oil was required.

1) Combine sugar and cinnamon on a plate and set aside.

2) Add the cup of water and pinch of salt in a pot and bring to boil. Once water boiled, remove the pot away from heat and add in the oil and stir in the flour. Stir the mixture using a wooden spatula until it formed a dough. Let cool for 10-15 minutes.

3) Add the egg into the dough and continue to stir until combined.

4) Spoon dough into the piping bags (2-3 layers) affixed with a large star tip.

5) Heat the oil. Gently squeeze the piping bag with one hand holding nearer to the tip and the other hand at the end of the bag to let out 3-5 inches of the dough. Release dough into the oil by snipping it with a pair of scissors. Note: U may want to lower your hand and let the dough down gently. The higher the point u release the dough, the more likely the oil will splatter.

6) Fry churros till golden and drain them on paper kitchen towels.

7) Coat churros with the sugar and cinnamon mixture by rolling them on the plate. Serve immediately.

Enjoy!

Click here for a step-by-step tutorial.

Home-made Hotcakes

 

Preparing your hotcakes batter is just so cheap and easy!

Yield 5-7 pieces (depending on the size of the ladle you use)

Serve 2

In 15 minutes

Ingredients

- 1 cup self-raising flour

- 1 cup milk

- 1 egg

- pinch of salt

- sauce of your choice (maple syrup, chocolate sauce, butter and sugar or anything you can think of)

- coloring (optional)

1) Combine the flour, milk, egg and salt in a bowl and whisk until well combined and smooth using a balloon whisk.

2) Optional - Using a piping bag, pipe a heart shape (or any design) with the batter colored with food coloring onto a non-stick pan.

3) Pour a ladle of the batter into the non-stick pan. Batter will spread and set into a nice round shape naturally. *Tips: Fill the ladle full with every scoop so you will get hotcakes of even size.

3) When the batter started to bubble in the centre and the edges started to dry up, flip the hotcake and cook the other side till golden brown.

4) Serve with your favourite sauce.

Fun tips: Fill batter into a sauce bottle and you are ready to make hot cakes with irregular shapes and sizes simply by squeezing the bottle gently and 'drawing' onto the pan. Mickey, Hello Kitty, Minions...You name it, you draw it. Have fun! :)

Enjoy!

Click here for a step-by-step tutorial.

Fried Ice-cream 'Curry Puff' 炸雪糕

 

Easy peasy, fuss free yet taste heavenly fried ice-cream. Crispy, crunchy and hot on the outside. Cold, sweet and soft in the inside.

Ingredients

- Sliced bread

- Ice-cream of your choice

1) Place a slice of bread on top of the curry puff/dumpling mould.

2) Scoop a tsp of the ice-cream and place it on the centre of the sliced bread. **IMPORTANT NOTE: Do not over fill as the ice-cream might leak and the leaking of the ice-cream during frying may cause oil to splatter.

3) Fold the sliced bread by closing the mould. Close tightly.

4) Tear away remaining bread using hand. Use a pair of scissors to trim the edge to give it a smooth finish. *Note: Google how to transform leftover bread, bread crust and even stale bread into homemade breadcrumbs. Lazy way...just eat it :P

5) Freeze puffs for at least 4 hours or more on a plate or in a ziplog bag. **Important note: Sending the puffs into the freezer is crucial. This step ensures that the ice-cream will not melt so easily.

6) Heat up the oil. Shallow fry the puffs for 15 seconds on each side or until golden.  **Important note: Make sure the oil is hot enough. I tested it by throwing a small piece of bread in the oil and it turned brown in seconds which mean it's hot enough.

7) Lay puffs on oil-absorbing paper or a paper kitchen towel to absorb the oil and serve while hot.

Enjoy!

Click here for a step-by-step tutorial.

Golden Pineapple Balls 黄梨挞

 

The recipe of the dough was adapted from Munch Ministry.

Ingredient A

- 200g butter
- 40g castor sugar

Ingredient B
- 1 egg yolk
- 1/4 tsp vanilla Essence

Ingredient C (sifted)
- 300g plain flour
- 25g custard powder
- 1/2 tsp salt

Glazing
- 2 egg yolks (beaten)

Fillings
- 1 kg pineapple paste ( I used ready-made paste)

1) Mix ingredient A till creamy.

2) Add in ingredient B and mix well.

3) Fold in ingredient C and mix to form a dough.

4) Leave aside for 20 minutes.

5) The thumb rule for the amount of dough and paste to be used is 1/2 tbs dough to 1 tsp paste so you can forget abt the weighing scale for a while Roll the paste between your palms into a round ball. Roll the dough between palms into a round ball and flatten it. Place the paste on top of the flattened dough, seal it and roll the pineapple ball between palms again to shape it up, making it neatly round.

6) Glaze pineapple balls with beaten egg yolk.

7) Optional - Add a piece of clove (丁香) with the star-like part protruding for a mandarin orange look-a-like presentation or with the stem part sticking out resembling an apple.

8) Baked at 180c for 15 minutes.

Enjoy!

Easy Kueh Bahulu

 

3-ingredients easy peasy and fuss-free kueh bahulu 简易传统蛋花糕.

Ingredients

- 120g plain flour

- 120g fine sugar

- 4 eggs

*The proportion: for each egg used, use 30g of flour and 30g of sugar. So do your math, use more or less according to your needs.

1) Beat the eggs and sugar till light and fluffy.

2) Gradually add in the sifted flour.

3) Oil mould and pour in the batter.

4) Bake in pre-heated oven at 200c for 10-15min depending on your oven temperature and size of mould used.

5) Done when golden brown. Simply remove the kueh bahulu using a skewer or toothpick.

Enjoy!

Click here for a step-by-step tutorial.

Easy Bake-free Cheesecake

 

IMPORTANT NOTE: Set it in the freezer compartment and not just anywhere in the fridge.

Ingredients:-

- 1 tub (250g) Kraft light Philadelphia spreadable cream cheese (as indicated, its 80% less fat as compared to butter and margarine)
- 1/2 cup of icing sugar
- 1 cup of whipping cream
- 12 oreo cookies
- a handful of chocolate chips

1) Beat whipping cream until soft peak and set aside.

2) Beat cream cheese and sugar until well blended. Stir in whipped cream gently until well combined.

3) Line 1 cookie on the bottom of each muffin cup.

4) Spoon mixture into cups and sprinkle with chocolate chips.

5) Set in freezer for at least 4 hours or until firm *no worries about it becoming rock hard like ice.

Enjoy!  Its ice-cream taste-a-like cheesecake.

Easy Chocolatey and Moist Chocolate Cake

 

Ingredients

- 200g dark compound/baking chocolate (break into small pieces)

- 100g unsalted butter (cubed and softened)

- 25g sugar

- 2 eggs

- 20g self-raising flour

1) Beat eggs and sugar until pale.

2) Melt dark chocolate in a heavy pot/pan under small flame. *IMPORTANT NOTE: Remove pot away from flame when chocolate started to melt. Continue stirring and add in soften butter and stir till both combined.

3) Stir in butter and chocolate mixture into the eggs and sugar mixture. Add in the flour. Stir the batter with a spatula till well combined.

4) Spoon into muffin tray lined with cupcake liners and bake in pre-heated oven at 180c for 15-20 minutes.

Enjoy! You may want to dust it with some icing sugar and top it with fruits. Or even serve it with a scoop of your favorite ice-cream.

 

Click here for a step-by-step tutorial.

Sweet Corn Kueh

 

My all time favourite sweet corn kueh :)

Ingredients

- 1 pack (100g) hoen kwe (green bean flour)

- 1 can corn kernels (drained)

- 1 can (425ml) coconut milk

- 100g fine sugar

- 500g water

- pinch of salt

- banana leaves cut roughly 2x2'' (optional)

1) In a pan, combine the water, sugar, hoen kwe, coconut milk and pinch of salt and stir thoroughly.

2) Heat mixture over low flame and stirring constantly until slightly thicken.

3) Add corn kennels into the slightly thicken mixture and continue stirring until thicken.

4) Scoop mixture into moulds, set aside to cool and chill in fridge.

5) Serve chill.

Click here for a step-by-step tutorial. 

Nama Chocolate 生チョコレート

 

Chocolate lover like me wouldn't want to miss this :)

Adapted from Just One Cook Book.

 

*IMPORTANT NOTE: End product to be kept in fridge at all times and best consumed within a couple of days.

Ingredients

- 400g good quality dark chocolate (70% cocoa)

- 200ml whipping cream

- liquor of your choice (optional)

- cocoa powder for dusting

* the bar of chocolate that I bought was only 220g so I only used 110ml of whipping cream since the proportion of the dark chocolate to cream is 2:1 

 

1) In a heavy pot, heat cream till warm and remove away from flame *important note: DO NOT boil the cream.

2) Add chocolate which were break into small pieces into the cream and stir both ingredients until well combined. Add liquor of your choice at this point if you desire.

3) Pour mixture into a 8×8" tray lined with parchment paper * lazy mommy used a disposable loaf box you can get the disposable 8×8" tray available at most supermarkets too which cost roughly $2/3's.

4) Use a spatula to smooth the surface of the mixture *lazy mommy has got a simple trick without the need to use the spatula. Simply drop tray on the counter top a few times and shake the tray left right a few times, rotate tray and shake left right again a few times. You will be able to get more or less a v smooth surface.

5) Refrigerate until firm (2-3hrs) and remove chocolate from tray *if using disposables, just snip the tray with a pair of scissors to expose the chocolate.

6) Cut chocolate into cubes with a warm knife. Wipe the knife dry if you are using hot water to warm the knife. Or simply warm the knife using the flame from stove. Clean knife after every cut to prevent splintering.

7) Dust with cocoa powder and serve immediately. Or keep straight into the fridge and finish it within a couple of days.

Enjoy! Expensive nama chocolate with just a fraction of the price when you DIY.

Click here for a step-by-step tutorial.

Tomyam Soup

 

I love Thai food. Got this recipe from my friend Yean Leng who was taught how to cook this Tom Yam soup by her Thai friend.

Ingredients A

- 3 stalks lemon grass (sliced diagonally)

- 5 kaffir lime leaves

- 3 small onion

- 4-6 chilli padi (I added 6)

- 3 slices galangal aka blue ginger (1/2cm thick)

- 600ml water

Ingredient B

- 1 litre chicken stock (I used 1 cube of the knorr chicken cubes)

Ingredients C

- Seafood of your choice (I used fish cakes, batang fish and prawns)

Ingredients D (add these according to taste)

- sugar (I added 1 tsp)

- fish sauce (I added 2 tsp)

- green lemon (Give the lemon a good 'massage' before you extract the juice. I added the juice of the whole lemon)

1) Bring Ingredients A to boil in a pot under small flame for 30 minutes.

2) Add Ingredient B to Ingredient A and bring to boil again before adding Ingredients C.

3) Add Ingredients D according to preference. *Tips: add using teaspoon and taste before adding more so that you can get it right.

Enjoy! The taste of Thailand. 

Click here for a step-by-step tutorial.

Blueberry Soft-bake Cookies

 

Adapted from the cook book Cookie Creation.

Makes 8, 10 mins to prepare, cooking time of 20 mins, 4 simple steps and using 7 ingredients. These cookies are best eaten hot with a large scoop of ice-cream.

Yield 8

Preparation 10 mins

Cooking 20 mins

 

Ingredients:

- 150g plain flour (all-purpose flour)

- 1 1/2 tsp baking powder

- 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon

- 55g butter (cubed)

- 85g sugar

- 5 tbs milk

- 150g fresh blueberries

1) Preheat oven to 190c. Lightly butter a large cookie sheet.

2) Sift the flour, baking powder and cinnamon into a bowl. Rub in the butter using your fingers until the mixture resembles rough breadcrumbs, then stir in sugar.

3) Stir in milk and blueberries until just combined (the dough should be quite sticky)

4) Spoon 8 portions, space well apart, onto the cookie sheet and bake for 20 minutes or until golden and springy to touch. Cool on a wire rack for a few minutes before serving.

Enjoy!

Ondeh Ondeh

 

This recipe yields roughly 22 ondeh ondeh using 1/2 tbs dough (12g) and 1/2 tsp gula melaka (2g)

Ingredients:

- 200g sweet potato

- 75g glutinous rice flour

- 1 tsp oil

- 60g gula Melaka (you can shave and chop it up with a knife)

- dessicated coconut

- 1/4 tsp pandan paste

- 2-3tbs water (when necessary)

1) De-skin sweet potato, cut into small pieces and steam till soft.

2) Mash steamed sweet potato.

3) Add flour, pandan paste and oil into the mashed sweet potato and knead to form a dough. Add some water if the dough is a bit dry and cldnt form a smooth dough.

4) Take 1/2 tbs of the dough and roll into a ball between palms. Press lightly to make it flat and press with thumb to make a dent. Place gula melaka in the dent and seal it. Roll dough between palms again to make it into a neat ball. *Tips: After sealing in the gula Melaka, knead dough GENTLY in one hand by doing a clench fist action before rolling into a ball. This action makes the dough come together more easily.

5) Bring a pot of water to boil and cook the balls in it. Balls float when they are done.

*Tips: Let cook for another minute or two to make sure the gula Melaka in the balls is fully dissolved and not lumpy.

6) Scoop out the balls and strain away excess water before coating them with dessicated coconut. Serve immediately.

Enjoy! Click here for a step-by-step tutorial.

Cute Steamed Egg Cakes

Traditional steamed egg cakes with a twist. Quick and easy using only 3 ingredients. This recipe was originally the kueh bahulu recipe. I shared the recipe with my friend Yean Leng and she was so 'brave' to try steaming it! And I was quite surprised that she told me it was delicious and the steamed cakes were wiped out before she knew it. So it gave me the idea to try drawing design (which I have seen online) using the batter added with food color.

Okay so before you start, here's a few important notes, it's a MUST-READ to ensure a successful attempt and result:
- Use room temperature eggs.
- Eggs and sugar must be beaten until light and fluffy (Be patience, don't be too eager to fold in the flour)
- When folding the flour into the eggs and sugar mixture, mix until just combine. DO NOT over-mix which will result in a batter that is too fine and watery.
- DO NOT open the cover just to peep or add water during steaming.

For more Q & A and design ideas, please click here and here. Click here for the video.

Recipe yield roughly 14 - 16 pieces for doing this ladybug design. **Note: If you are doing other designs which require more or less colored batter, the quantity yield may varies. And some batter might be also be wasted during the process.

  Ingredients:...
- 180g plain flour
- 180g fine sugar
- 6 eggs (room temperature)
- brown coloring
- red coloring

1) Beat eggs n sugar till light and fluffy. Add in the sifted flour.

2) Scoop 1 tbs of the batter into a piping bag. Snip a small hole and set aside.

3) Scoop 8 tbs of the batter into another piping bag, add in the brown coloring to achieve the desired shade and mix well. Snip a small hole and set aside.

4) Add red coloring to the rest of the batter and mix well.

5) Line paper cups in the muffin tray. Fill the cups 3/4 full with the pink batter. Using the brown batter, draw a 'T' starting from the middle. Fill the top half with the brown batter and draw dots on the bottom. Using the white batter, make two dots on the upper brown portion. Lastly, make a dot in the white dot using brown batter.

6) Bring water to boil and lower cakes into pot or pan. Steam under medium heat for 15 minutes.

Enjoy!

Click here for a step-by-step tutorial.

Easy Cinnamon Sticks

An easy peasy delicious snack for cinnamon lovers like me, using the least favorite part in that loaf of bread. Yes! The crust! Other than turning the crust into bread crumbs, you might want to turn them into a delicious snack too :)

Serve 1-2 in 10 minutes

Ingredients:

- 2-3 slice of bread crust (not a must to use the crust)

- 30g melted butter

- 2 tbs fine sugar

- 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon

* I was using a 12:1 sugar and cinnamon proportion. You might want to use more cinnamon. Its really fine and up to your preference.

 

1) Mix sugar and cinnamon thoroughly.

2) Cut bread into strips and toast til crispy.

3) Coat toasted strips in melted butter and then in the sugar and cinnamon mix.

Enjoy! With your favorite tea or coffee.

Click here for a step-by-step tutorial.

Soda Cracker Meatballs

 

Ingredients:

- 450g minced meat
- 2 tbs corn flour
- 2 tbs soy sauce (yes, 2 tbs coz Im nt using salt. I used kikkoman msg and preservative free premium soy sauce)
- 2 tsp of sesame oil
- 2 tsp of hua diao jiu
- 1 egg
- 12-15 pcs of cream cracker/soda biscuit
- A little pepper to taste

1) Place crackers into a ziplog bag and crush crackers using a rolling pin or even a plastic plate. I simply pound the crackers using the pin. If you are using a plate, you can 'chop' the crackers. Do not crush them too fine.

2) Marinate minced meat with soy sauce, sesame oil, hua diao jiu, corn flour and pepper. Combine thoroughly.

3) Roll marinated minced meat into roughly the size of a fishball.

4) Coat with egg and then with the cream cracker crumbs.

5) Deep fried till golden brown. And you may want to serve them with your favourite sauce.

Enjoy!

Click here for a step-by-step tutorial.

QQ Sweet Potato Mochi 番薯麻糍

 

Base on ping pong ball size, this recipe yields roughly 8 pieces.

 Ingredients:
- 200g sweet potato
- 40g fine sugar
- 75g glutinous rice flour
- 1 tsp oil
- Desiccated coconut

1) De-skin sweet potato, cut into small pieces and steam till soft.

2) Mash steamed sweet potato.

3) Add flour, sugar and oil into the mashed sweet potato and knead to form a dough.

4) Divide dough into 2 equal portions and steam 1 of the portion for 15 minutes.

5) Combine the steamed and raw dough.

6) Roll dough into ping pong size ball and place balls wide apart on greased tray/plate (To prevent balls from sticking together and on tray/plate)

7) Steam for 10 minutes.

8) Coat done mochi with desiccated coconut. Serve warm or chilled (Original recipe didnt suggest serving chilled but I did a 'test' and feel that it taste good too when chilled)

Enjoy!

Baked Mini Donuts

 

Take note that this is a cake-like mixture recipe and taste more cake-like and not bread-like unlike the fried type. You have to use a donut tray instead of donut cutter.

Using the 12 holes donut tray, this recipe yields roughly 36 mini donuts.

Ingredients:
- 3 cups Flour
- 4 and 1/2 tsp baking powder
- 1/2 tsp nutmeg powder
- 150g butter
- 1 cup fine sugar
- 2 eggs
- 1 cup milk

1) Sift together the flour, baking powder and nutmeg.

2) In another bowl, blend butter and sugar. Add eggs and mix well.

3) Combine (1) and (2), add milk and blend thoroughly.

4) Pour mixture in piping bag.

5) Grease tray and pipe in mixture. 1/2 filled.

6) Bake at 180c for abt 15 minutes till golden. *if there's any crack, try lowering the temperature of your oven.

7) When done, I pick them out using a toothpick.

8) Spread nutella on top with a butter knife and dip into the roasted almonds/nuts. *Nuts to be roasted till lightly brown.

Cinnamon sugar topping: 1/2 tsp cinnamon, 1/2 cup sugar, 90g melted butter. Dip donut into melted butter and dip into the cinnamon and sugar mix.

Enjoy!

Chocolate Mousse

 

I gotten this idea from a recipe sharing page 多多开伙。I love this idea so much that I attempted to grow mint from seeds, haha... but I heeded the advise from Wokkingmum and propagated them from stem cuttings coz it's faster that way. As you can see here, it was a success! :)

Ingredients:

- 125g dark chocolate

- 125g butter...
- 25g icing sugar
- 100ml whipping cream (I used the redman non-diary whipping cream)

1) Cut the chocolate and butter into small cubes and melt in a pot under low heat. Remove melted mixture from heat and let cool.

2) Whip the cream and icing sugar in the mixer until soft peak.

3) Make sure the chocolate mixture has completely cool before you fold in the whipped cream. Note: you can place the pot of chocolate mixture in cold water to cool it down quickly but be careful not to let the mixture solidified.

4) Stir the chocolate mixture and whipped cream until well combined.

5) Pipe or spoon the mousse into small serving glasses and let set in the fridge for 2-3 hours.

6) Ready to serve as it is or garnish with cocoa powder, grated chocolate or finely crushed oreo cookies as in pic.

Enjoy!

Mini Watermelon Agar Agar

 

This recipe yields 18 wedges.

Ingredients:

- 3 big limes ( I used the Australia Tahitian)
- 30g sugar (or according to your taste. I prefer less salt and sugar in my food.)
- 200ml water
- 1 pandan leaf (fold and tie a knot)
- 2g of agar agar power (the Swallow Globe brand I was using calls for 1 litre of water to the 10g in the pack.)

1) Cut the limes into half. Squeeze out the juice and remove all the pulp.

2) In a pot, add in the water, sugar, agar agar powder and the pandan leaf.

3) Stir and bring the mixture to a boil using low heat.

4) When done, add 2 drops of red colouring.

5) Pour mixture into the emptied limes, let cool and chill in fridge till set.

6) Cut each piece into 3 and you'll get 18 wedges.

7) Decorate with black sesame seeds (optional).

Enjoy!

Click here for a step-by-step tutorial.

Mini Nutella Muffins

Recipe adapted from Steph of the Culinary Kitchenette group.

Using the smallest cups, this recipe yields roughly 16 muffins.

Ingredients needed for the muffins:
- 285g nutella
- 62g cake flour
- 2 eggs

For the cream cheese frosting:
- 1 block cream cheese (soften)
- 1 block unsalted butter (200g - soften)
- I cup icing sugar
- 1 tsp vanilla essence

1) Whisk the nutella, cake flour and eggs until smooth and bake at 180c for 15-20min. Note: Use mini cups. Bigger cups will required longer baking time.

2) In mixer, start whipping the cream cheese and gradually add in the butter, sugar and vanilla essence last.

**There's more than enough to frost the above muffins. There's leftover. So you can actually half the amt or bake more muffins

Enjoy!

QQ Sweet Potato Balls 番薯球

 

Adapted from my friend Jennifer's food blog.

 

Using a 1/2 tbs portion which weighs roughly 13g, this recipe yield roughly 72 pieces.

Ingredients:

- 500g sweet potatoes

- 200g glutinous rice flour

- 80g cake flour

- 40g corn flour

- 150g sugar.

- Some Icing sugar to coat

- Salt (I didnt add salt which is optional)

1) De-skin, cut sweet potatoes into small pieces and steam till soft.

 

2) Mash steamed sweet potatoes together with sugar and let cool.

3) Add all the flour and knead into a dough. I added some warm water coz my dough turned out a bit dry.

4) Roll into balls.

5) Deep fry till golden brown.

6) Coat with icing sugar and serve.

Enjoy!

Click here for a step-by-step tutorial.

Easy Pizza

 

Easy pizza. I used to do these with my sisters before I got married and now Im doing these with my children :)

Main ingredients:

- Buns
- Grated mozzarella
- Ketchup (any brand will do.)

The rest, up to your preference but Im using tomato, capsicum, chicken cocktail and button mushrooms (all ingredients being sliced or diced)

1) Slice bun into half.

2) Spread 1 tsp of ketchup on the bun.

3) Follow by the ingredients and mozzarella on the top layer.

4) I used a toaster oven to toast the mini pizza for 5-6 minutes.

5) Done! If you can cook instant noodle, you will be able to do this too

Enjoy!

Click here for a step-by-step tutorial.

Basil Leaves Spaghetti with Prawns and Tomatoes

 

Serve 4 in 15-20 min

Ingredients:
- 350g spaghetti
- 4 tomatoes
- 10g basil leaves
- 8 tbs olive oil
- 20 medium prawns
- salt and pepper to taste

1) Soak half of the basil leaves in 4 tbs of olive oil and set aside til required. Dice the tomatoes next.

2) Cooked spaghetti in water with plenty of salt until 'al dente' and drain.

3) Cook the prawns with the balance olive oil. Dish out and set aside when done.

4) Cook tomatoes in same oil, adding salt and pepper.

5) Add spaghetti to the tomatoes together with the basil flavoured oil and toss for a minute.

6) Done. Garnish with the prawns and remaining basil leaves.

Enjoy!

Click  here for a step-by-step tutorial.