Banana Pops

 

It's not a new idea. Check out the marshmallow pops I did last year :) Hope you will like these banana pops too.

Ingredients:

- 3 medium-sized bananas

- 100g baking chocolate

- small handful of hundreds and thousands and/or chopped nuts (I toasted the nuts for extra fragrant)

1) Cut each banana into 3 and insert skewer on each cut banana. Set aside.

2) Melt chocolate in hot water bath. That is, pour fresh boiling water into a bowl/small pan and in another bowl, break the chocolate into small pieces and place the bowl of chocolate into the bowl of hot water. Stir until chocolate melts.

3) Coat banana with the melted chocolate and then the chopped nuts or hundreds and thousands. Served immediately or can be served chilled.

Enjoy!

Ni-tamago け玉子 (Lava egg)

Ni-tamago or simply lava egg is easily identified by it's solid egg white, soft and runny yolk and the brown appearance brought about by the marinating process.

If you were to google, you will find many ways to prepare these lava eggs which are usually serve in Ramen. Some says add a pinch of salt to the boiling water to prevent the eggs from cracking and others say to plunge the cooked eggs into a pot of ice-water with vinegar so that the shell can be peel off easily. Some used refrigerated eggs while some used normal temperature eggs. No matter which way you are comfortable with, you'll get the same cheap cheap home-made lava eggs.

Im going to do it MY WAY (Cross reference between Wokkingmum and Evan's Kitchen), the non-authentic way without the use of mirin, brown sugar, ginger or ice yet achieving the result that I want, that is, the deeper brown akin braised egg but then being less salty. All because I fancy less salty stuff and I'd wanted the deep brown for my Domokun egg-cellent idea.  

Main Ingredients:

- 2 refrigerated eggs (each egg approx. 55g)

The marinade (enough to soak 4 eggs):

- 1 + 1/4 + 1/4 cups drinking water

- 3 tbs light soy sauce

- 3 tbs dark soy sauce

- 1 tbs sugar

- A bowl of cool tap water (for cooling down the eggs after cooking)

1) Boil a pot of water just enough to submerge the eggs. You may want to add a pinch of salt to prevent the eggs from cracking but I didn't add any. When the water is bring to boil, lower the heat and slowly and gently lower the eggs into the water using a spoon or ladle. Cook the eggs for 6 minutes without the cover. Best not to exceed 6.5 minutes. Do use a timer.

2) Place cooked eggs into the bowl of cool tap water and just leave it there till you are ready to crack them while you prepare the marinade.

3) Bring 1/4 cups of water to boil to melt the sugar. If you have a thermal pot with hot water in it, just use that. The hot water is needed just to dissolve the sugar.

4) Pour the sugar solution into the light soy sauce, dark soy sauce and 1 + 1/4 cups of drinking water mix and stir well.

5) Crack the eggs with a teaspoon with a gentle tapping motion and peel off the shell. Place the de-shelled eggs into the marinade. Make sure you use a deeper container so that each eggs can be fully submerge in the marinade. And by all means, use a ziplog bag or bowl to contain the eggs and the marinade. The idea is to have the eggs fully soak in the marinade. U don't wanna get a patchy looking egg, don't you? :)

6) Seal it and store it overnight in the fridge.

I did it at 11pm on Fri and cut it up at 11am on this morning, a whole 12 hours to get this result and I'm very pleased with it.

So I'm sharing with you here the mirin, brown sugar, ginger and ice-water free version of doing the non-authentic lava eggs.

Enjoy!

Click here for a step-by-step tutorial.

Easy Home-Made Muah Chee 简易麻糍

 

Love the texture, so soft and chewy. Old grandmama and grandpapa will like them I think ;P

Serve 6

Preparation 10 mins

Cook 20 mins

Ingredients:

(A)

- 250g glutinous rice flour

- 100g fine sugar

- 400g water (yes in gram)

(B)

- 140g ground peanut powder (I used ready-made available at most supermarkets)

- 60g fine sugar (or according to taste)

1) In a bowl, combine (A). Stir until well blended. Run mixture through a sieve once or twice to remove any possible lumps.

2) Pour into a 8-inch square or round tin.

3) Bring water in pan/wok to boil and lower tin into pan/wok. Cover pan/wok and steam mixture under high heat for 20 minutes until fully cooked.

4) In a deep plate, combine (B) and mix well.

5) When mixture is cooked, let the cooked dough cool before cutting stripes from the dough using a knife. Place the stripes of cooked dough into the peanut powder and sugar mix and cut them further into bite-size using a pair of kitchen scissors. Coat well and serve.

Enjoy!

Click here for a step-by-step tutorial.

Traditional Shortbread Cookies

Traditional shortbread cookies looking not so traditional ;) Love the cute doggie design I saw online which was used to make Horlicks cookies so I decided to incorporate this cookie design into my traditional shortbread cookies. Do note that because I made some traditional looking ones and some animal-shaped ones so I cannot tell you for sure how much this recipe can yield. I can only tell you that I managed to make 10 pieces of the 3 x 7 cm by 1-inch thick cookies and 21 pieces of the animal-shaped cookies. *P/S: 2 pieces of the animal-shaped cookies went 'missing' before I could take a picture of it :P

And yes, I want to touch a bit on the butter. Have you often wondered if a recipe calls for butter, should you be using the regular salted butter or unsalted butter? Traditionally, unsalted butter was used in baking because it was considered a superior product as compared to the salted one. Salt is used as a preservative and hence unsalted one was thought to be better. However in this era, the quality of salted butter is not any inferior than the unsalted one. The only concern is that the salt content in the salted butter may varies from brand to brand. Hence, using unsalted butter give us a control of how much salt we want in the bake or food. Some swear that salt enhances and brings out the full flavour of sweet bakes and dishes. Nowadays, using salted or unsalted butter is really a matter of preference and not right or wrong rules.

So how do I read a recipe? For recipe calling for butter, it's understood as salted butter but you can always use unsalted one and add a pinch of salt. If you prefer just unsalted butter, it's alright too. Those that specifically called for unsalted butter, do use just unsalted butter. If a recipe indicate the use of unsalted butter plus a certain amount of salt, it seems alright to me to replace the unsalted butter with the regular salted butter but do omit the salt in this case. If the recipe requires salted butter, well...it's very clear cut in this instance, just use salted butter.

For this shortbread cookies, you can use salted butter, unsalted butter with a pinch of salt or just unsalted butter like me, it's perfectly fine. After the first trial, you may want to increase or reduce the amount of sugar too. It really doesn't matter. Recipes are all about tweaking and substitution to fit our lifestyle and cater to our liking and convenience. What's good in a recipe when it doesn't suit your taste or meet your needs and liking?

Personally, I find this recipe a keeper and I will definitely bake this again. Hope you will like it too :) Do leave me a comment or pm me a picture if you have tried the recipe.

Ingredients:

- 1 block of butter 227g (I'm using SCS unsalted butter)

- 2 cups (250g) plain flour

- 1 cup (100g) corn flour

- 3/4 cup (90g) icing sugar

- a handful of Koko Crunch

- a small handful of chocolate chips

- a tiny handful of chocolate rice

1) Sift corn flour and plain flour into a bowl. Set aside.

2) Using the mixer, cream butter and icing sugar until light and fluffy.

3) Off the mixer and fold the sifted flour into the creamed mixture. Knead well. Wrap dough in cling wrap and rest/chill in fridge for at least half an hour.

4a) For the traditional ones: roll out the dough between two sheets of baking paper to 1cm thick and cut into 3 x 7cm fingers. Place the cut fingers on cookie tray lined with parchment paper and prick around the edges of each finger with a fork.

4b) For the animal-shaped ones: divide the dough into 15g small dough. Roll the divided dough into a ball between palms. For the panda design, the eyes are koko crunch, ears and nose are chocolate chips. For the doggie design, koko crunch for the ears, chocolate rice for the eyes and chocolate chip for the nose.

5) Bake in pre-heated at 150c for 25 - 30 minutes until pale golden.

Enjoy!

Horlicks Cookies

 

Hoot Hoot! :) This is an original idea.

Goes well with a glass of milk :)

This recipe makes roughly 13 pieces.

Ingredients

- 100g butter (soften)

- 40g sugar

- 100g horlicks/milo/ovaltine

- 100g cake flour/top flour

- 25g corn flour

- 13pc M&M milk chocolate

- 26pc chocolate chips

1) Sift the cake and corn flour into a bowl. Set aside.

2) In a mixer, cream the butter, horlicks and sugar on low speed for 3 mins till creamy and combined. Do not over mix.

3) Off the mixer, fold in the sifted flour and use hands to knead till a dough is formed.

4) Divide dough into 20g each. Roll each dough into a ball between palms. Put it down and flatten it slightly using palm. *Tips: If the dough has crack lines, the cracks can be even out by smoothing with finger tips.

 5) Use a teaspoon to cut out a portion from the dough. And using the same cut-out dough, divide it into 2 portion. Roll both portion of the dough into two small balls, flatten them and affix them on the upper part of the 20g dough. They are part of the 'eyes'.

6) Place 1 chocolate chip each on the two small flatten dough. Affix a M&M milk chocolate standing vertically in the centre of the dough, right under the 'eyes'.

7) Bake at pre-heated oven at 140c for 25 minutes.

8) Leave on wire rack to cool before storing in air-tight container.

Enjoy!

Click here for a step-by-step tutorial.

Almond Cookies

 杏福花开/Flower-Shaped Almond cookies

 

 

杏福满满/Happiness Almond Balls

 

Early this year, I tried baking Chinese New Year cookies for the first time in my life. I am a novice in baking hence I began my 'trial and error' journey baking the pineapple tarts and almond cookies :P Glad to say, feedbacks from friends and family were positive :) I have already shared the pineapple tart recipe and here's the almond cookie recipes as requested. There are 2 almond cookie recipes that I'm going to share with you here, of which 1 of them is an easy and fuss-free 5-ingredient recipe.

 

For the 杏福花开/Flower-Shaped Almond cookies, the recipe was adapted from Food Manna and the below is the recipe for 杏福满满/Happiness Almond Balls.

 

This recipe yields roughly 55 pieces (using 1/2 tbs of dough)

 

Ingredients:

- 225g of self-raising flour

- 90g of fine castor sugar

- 120g of ground almond

- 120g of diced almond

- 150g of corn oil

1) Sift the flour and add in the sugar, ground almond and diced almond. Mix well.

2) Add in the oil and knead to form a dough.

3) Take half a tablespoon of the dough and roll into a ball. If it's too crumbly, simple knead the dough in your palm with a clench fist action prior to rolling them gently into shape. 

4) Place them in small paper cases and bake in pre-heated oven at 160-180c for 15mins.

5) Cool completely on rack before storing them away.

 

Enjoy!

An 'Egg-cellent' Recipe

 

When Angeline (read more about her here) of Simply Mommie invited me to guest post at her blog to share a recipe with her readers, I felt really pleased and honoured to be able to do so and said yes immediately without second thought. Just to add, the food post is publish on every Friday.

A short introduction of myself for Simply Mommie's readers. I'm a stay-at-home mommy to 4 girls. I'm definitely no chef but just a home-cook who is always trying hard to please the children's palate. I consider them fussy eaters :P But I certainly do learn along the way and through sharing of what I have learnt via my personal Facebook page, I made quite a lot of friends. I really enjoy and appreciate this kind of interaction and discussion about baking and cooking with friends which makes my passion for cooking for the family grow by the day. If you happened to read this post, feel free to drop by to say hello :)

Meanwhile, hop by Simply Mommie to check out this healthy macaroni soup recipe incorporating my 'egg-cellent idea' . We have Ultraman VS Domokun. Roarrrrr! Haha... :)

Nutty Chocolate Cupcakes

Adapted from a cook book by Chef Alex Goh.

Ingredients A:

- 200g boiling water

- 35g cocoa powder

Ingredients B:

- 250g sugar (I used a little lesser)

- 1/2 tsp salt

Ingredients C:

- 3 eggs

- 120g vegetable oil

Ingredients D:

- 200g plain flour - all purpose flour (I used cake flour)

- 1 1/2 tsp baking powder

- 1/2 tsp baking soda

Topping

- Ganache/Nutella

- Toasted chopped nuts

1) Mix Ingredients A with a hand whisk until well blended. Add B and mix till well combined. Set aside to cool.

2) Add C and mix until well incorporated. Add D and mix until well combined.

3) Line muffin cases in muffin tin. Spoon batter into the cases. Fill 2/3 full. *Tips: I poured the batter into a measuring cup and fill the cases from the cup. I find it easier that way.

4) Bake in pre-heated oven at 190c in the middle rack for 20-25 minutes. *Note: I baked at 180c for 25 minutes. **Tips: If you aren't sure if the cakes are fully cooked, always do a test by poking a skewer/toothpick into the cake. It's done when the skewer/toothpick comes out clean.

5) Set aside to cool. Spread ganache on top of the cakes and sprinkle with chopped toasted nuts and pipe some white chocolate lining. **I topped the cake with a dollop of nutella instead and sprinkled it with toasted chopped almonds. The amount of topping used, whether it's just a dollop or a generous spoonful, it's up to individual preference.

Enjoy!

Mozzarella Cheese Baked Prawns 芝士虾

 

My all-time favourite prawns, baked with mozzarella cheese :)

Ingredients:

- 20 large grey prawns

- 100g of shredded mozzarella cheese

- 30g of unsalted butter

- 2 to 3 tsp of minced garlic

- 3 sprigs of scallion (chopped)

- 3 sprigs of cilantro (chopped)

- pinch of salt and pepper

**Scallion and cilantro are optional.

1) Butterfly and de-vein the prawns. Lay them neatly on a baking dish/disposable tray. Sprinkle some salt and pepper over prawns. Set aside.

2) Melt butter in pan and fry garlic until fragrant. Pour butter and garlic mixture into a small bowl.

3) Spoon butter and garlic mixture onto prawns and spread the chopped scallion, cilantro and shredded mozzarella cheese evenly on the prawns. **Note: Scallion and cilantro are optional. You may want to sprinkle some dried parsley and paprika when the prawns are done instead.

4) Bake in pre-heated oven at 180c on top rack for 10 minutes or until prawns are completed red and cheese has melted.

Enjoy!

Click here for a step-by-step tutorial.

Tamagoyaki 卵焼き

 

Tamagoyaki 卵焼き literally means grilled egg. It's a Japanese omelette, usually cooked using a specialized rectangular pan, made by rolling together several layers of cooked egg. And the fact that sugar and mirin (a kind of rice wine similar to sake but with a lower alcohol content and higher sugar content) are added, it tastes more sweet than salty. You can always omit the mirin if you are cooking for the kids and don't feel comfortable using it.

It's just another great way to present the eggs on the table, without doubt, as tasty and nutritious as any other egg dishes can offer. I don't have the skill to roll it very nicely and neatly and on top of that I only managed to do 4 layers because of the size of the pan that I used. Nevertheless, I would really love to share this recipe with you coz it's just so versatile and easy to do. You may like to check out this cute bumble bee tamagoyaki or this tamagoyaki cooked with my home-gown spring onions or even this tamagoyaki with pork floss that I had done. LoL Whatever you like to do with it. It has no complaints :P

Ingredients:

- 4 eggs

- 4 tbs dashi stock ( I used instant chicken stock)

- 2 tsp fine sugar

- 1 tsp mirin (optional)

- 1 tsp soy sauce (just 1 tsp coz instant stock which is already salted is used)

1) Beat the egg in a bowl and set aside.

2) In another bowl, combine the stock, sugar, mirin and soy sauce and stir well.

3) Add mixture in (2) into the beaten eggs. Stir and mix till combined.

4) Sieve the mixture.

5) Heat the pan and add a lil oil and spread well in the pan. Pour a ladle and tilt pan to ensure the egg mixture is well spread in the whole pan.

6) When egg looks cook, roll egg with the help of the spatula or chopstick from one end to the other end.

7) Spread another egg layer in the pan and and do as (5) and making sure the uncooked egg mixture touches the cooked egg roll at the end of the pan.

8) Start rolling again from the first layer of rolled egg and rolled up the newly cooked layer of egg. Repeat until egg mixture is being used up.

Enjoy!

Click here for a step-by-step tutorial.

Cookie Tree Gourmet Cookie and Biscotti

We are pleased to secure a partnership with Coffex Singapore and will be selling and distributing their diverse range of Cookie Tree gourmet cookie and biscotti (an Italian biscuit commonly served with traditional Italian coffee such as espresso and café latte). New recipes and baking techniques are constantly formulated to maintain authenticity, variety and quality control.

 

Currently in Singapore, Cookie Tree's products may only be found in Hotels and certain high-end car distributor centres. We are privileged to be given this opportunity to distribute these high quality and tasty gourmet cookies and biscotti to our customers, online or retail outlets.

 

Keen to try them out? More ordering information below:

 

Minimum Order Quantity: 12 boxes (can mix and match)

 

Delivery: Self-Collection in Jurong or opt for direct delivery at S$5 to one location in Singapore (additional charges may be incurred for delivery to Jurong Island, Sentosa and CBD area)

 

Retail Price: S$6.90. Our price: S$5.50 (MOQ 12 boxes)

 

Payment: Bank transfer to DBS Saving Plus 054-4-027201 upon confirmation of order

 

Delivery: 3 - 7 days upon payment

 

Contact: 94473398

                90674181 (SMS/Whatsapp)

 

**All the products are halal certified. 

 

Available 

 

Subject to availability

 

Subject to availability

 

 

 Subject to availability

Meatballs & Spinach Soup with Wolfberries 肉丸苋菜枸杞汤

Ingredients:

- Ikan Bilis Stock (1.4litre)

- Mince meat (pork or chicken)

- 1 bunch of spinach (wash and cut 2-inch length)

- 11/2 to 2 tsp wolfberries (rinsed)

- 1 heap tbs cornflour

- 1 tbs soy sauce

- 1 tsp sesame oil

- pinch of salt and pepper

 

1) Prepare ikan bilis stock. ** I used the stock (700ml) that I have prepared and chilled in the fridge. I find it salty so dilute with water using a 1:1 proportion. Refer here for the preparation.

 

2) Combine mince meat, cornflour, soy sauce, sesame oil, salt and pepper. Mix well and roll them into balls.

 

3) Bring stock to boil and add wolfberries follow by meatballs, cook for a while and add spinach. Bring to a boil again and done.

 

Enjoy!

Click here for a step-by-step tutorial.

Traditional Mini Sponge Cake with Chocolate Chips

 

If you like kueh bahulu, you will like this :)

Using 2-inch base muffin cases, this recipe yields 9.

 

Ingredients:

- 180g plain flour (all-purpose flour)

- 180g fine sugar

- 4 eggs

- 1 tsp baking powder

- 40g melted unsalted butter

- 40g chocolate chip (optional if want it plain)

- pinch of salt

 

1) Sift baking powder and flour in a bowl. Set aside.

 

2) In a mixer, beat eggs, sugar and salt until light and fluffy.

 

3) With the use of the spatula, fold in the sifted baking powder and flour in 3 batches until well mix. Add butter and mix till well combined.

 

4) Stop mixer and fold in 2/3 of the chocolate chip into the batter and mix.

 

5) Scoop batter into muffin tin lined with cases. Filled 2/3 full. Top batter with balance chocolate chips (about 6 to 7 on surface).

 

6) Bake in pre-heated oven at 180c for 20 minutes.

 

7) Remove from oven immediately after baking and leave to cool on rack.

 

Enjoy!

Ikan Bilis Stock 江鱼仔上汤

Other than the usual chicken stock, vegetable stock or the ABC soup stock which I like to prepare, I guess this ikan bilis stock is nothing new to any Chinese Asian's household. Both my mom and my mother-in-law love to prepare this ikan bilis a.k.a anchovies stock when they need to cook that pot of mee hoon kueh, rice vermicelli soup or as the base soup for steam-boat. I mean, of course, the list goes on. I'm just quoting a few examples.

Many friends have enquired about the stock that I prepared when I cook that macaroni or mee hoon soup. Most of the time, when I prepare the ABC soup (a soup cooked using pork ribs, carrots, potatoes, corns, tomatoes, onions and the optional red dates and wolfberries) for dinner, I will prepare a huge pot so that I will have enough to set aside some soup to cook the one-pot meal for the children's lunch before they go off to school.

To be honest, cooking the pot of ABC soup takes up quite a lot of time. Not that it requires complicated methods or procedures to get it done but simply 2-3 hours of simmering using low heat, which is crucial and necessary, to help bring out the flavour is needed. Hence you really gotta be real patience. Nah..no patience? Real busy? Or just feel plain lazy? Fret not! Ikan bilis stock to the rescue! Just 25 minutes of your time and you will get this flavourful and healthy home-made broth filled with goodness. Hopefully I will be able to share with you 3 recipes using the ikan bilis stock soon. Meatball spinach with wolfberries soup (肉丸苋菜枸杞汤）, healthy wheat vermicelli fried egg soup （健康麦面线汤）  and home-made mee hoon kueh (面粉粿）。Meanwhile, gotta learn how to prepare the broth first alright? Here's how:

This recipe yields roughly 700ml of stock

Ingredients:

- 1 packet (100g) of splitted ikan bilis

- 1 litre water

- 3 cloves garlic

1) Place a big knife or chopper on the garlic and using the lower part of your palm, give the surface of the knife/chopper a strong blow to squash the garlic. With a pull or squeeze, the skin will come off easily.

2) In a bowl, rinse ikan bilis under running water until water runs clear. Drain and set aside for use later.

3) Pour water in a pot and bring it to boil. Add both ikan bilis and the garlic.

4) Boil for 10 minutes without covering the pot.

5) Ladle out ikan bilis and garlic and strain broth though a sieve and it's ready for use. For storing, let cool further before keeping it in the fridge. Use within a few days. If you gonna freeze it, use within 3 months.

**Note: If you happened to drop by the dried food groceries store, asked for the pangkor which is less salty and fishy. Otherwise, you can use any type easily available at any supermarkets. You may dilute the stock when using to suit your needs and taste.

Hope you find this useful :)

Mushipan 蒸しパン

 

Mushipan (蒸しパン)  means steamed bread in Japanese. I adapted this recipe from Bits of Taste. Personally think it tastes more cake-like rather than bread-like. I made them in Aug and my guinea pig, erm...I mean my hub commented as-a-matter-of-factly that 'its wan ko kueh what!' *duh* and he proceed to dunk them in his 3-in-1 coffee *roll eyes* and after which he added that it actually goes well with his coffee -.-

For info, Wan Ko Kueh 碗糕粿 is chinese steamed rice flour cake usually and best eaten with orange sugar 红糖. I had my reservation sharing this recipe coz many people would expect the texture of this Japanese steamed cake to be light, soft and fluffy. Thus, in view of this, I may end up with a lot of why-the-cakes-I- made-were-not-soft-and-light-and-fluffy-at-all-?-Not-anything-like-those-in-bakeries-at-all-? queries so I put it on hold. I'm posting now coz I have requests to share the recipe. Go ahead and try. I cant promise that it would be the taste that you will like or would expect but it's confirmed edible and 'not bad' :P in my opinion. I mean if you like wan ko kueh as well.

This recipe makes 4.

Preparation 10 min

Cook 15 min

 

Ingredients:

- 100g cake flour

- 40g castor sugar

- 60ml milk (I used strawberry flavoured milk)

- 1 egg

- 1 tsp baking powder

- 1 tbs vegetable oil

1) Sift and combine the flour and baking powder in a bowl.

2) Whisk the egg in another bowl and add in the sugar. Continue to whisk until combined.

3) Add in milk and mix well.

4) Fold in the sifted flour and baking powder until the batter is well blended.

5) Add in oil and mix well.

6. Scoop batter into muffin tin lined with paper case. Fill each case 3/4 full.

7. Bring the water in the wok/pan to boil and lower the muffin tin. Cover and steam at medium heat for about 15 minutes or until the skewer comes out clean.

8) Remove from wok/pan, let cool slightly. Best serve warm (in my opinion).

Enjoy!

Butter Cake 牛油蛋糕

 

I'm new to baking and I can't help but wanted to try our this butter cake recipe shared by Amy Yong in the recipes sharing page 好料 share share. I tweaked the recipe though coz I wanted to utilize the cake flour that's gonna expire soon. I'm not sure why but the cake was a bit too moist when I baked it the first time. So, I decided to amend the recipe further by reducing the amount of eggs and milk. Other than that, I used the exact same method to prepare the cake.

The original recipe can be found here. I have shared a couple of my recipes at this recipes sharing page too. My sweet corn kueh and ladybug steamed egg cakes actually received good response :) Here's the video for the ladybug steamed egg cakes if you are keen. Oh, back to the butter cake, the below is my version. Feel free to use any of the version.

Ingredients:

- 2 cups cake flour

- 1 block butter - 250g (soften)

- 1 tsp baking powder

- 1 cup fine sugar

- 1/3 cup milk

- 4 eggs

*Do get a measuring cup if you don't have one. It's really useful. When we see a recipe that calls for a cup of this and that, the cup used is the standard measuring cup and not cups of any sizes that you drink your usual coffee or tea or the up-sized cup of coke in the fast food restaurants.

1) Using the mixer, cream the sugar and butter until pale and creamy. *Can use hi-speed.

2) Switch to medium speed, add the eggs into the sugar and butter mixture one at a time until combined.

3) Add in milk follow by the sifted flour and baking powder. The flour to be added gradually and in 4 batches, that is, when one batch of the flour has incorporation into the mixture, then continue to add another batch. Tips: With the help of the spatula, scrape the side and bottom of the mixer bowl to ensure that all the flour is well combined into the mixture.

4) Pour mixture into a 8-inch round or square baking tin lined with parchment paper. Use a spatula to level the mixture. Shake tin lightly and drop the tin lightly on the kitchen counter a couple of time to aid in the even distribution of the mixture. On top of that, this action may helps to get rid of any trapped air bubbles.

5) Bake in pre-heated oven at 160c for 50 - 60 minutes on the lower rack until a test with the skewer comes out clean. ** I reduce the temperature to 150c for the last 15 minutes coz it domed and crack a lil.

6) Remove cake from oven and let cool slightly before transferring the cake out of the tin to cool further on the wire rack. You may like to serve it cooled or when it's still a lil warm.

Enjoy!

Chicken In Beer 啤酒鸡

 





Chicken in wine 啤酒鸡。This recipe was shared by a colleague at work. I was only given a vague recipe. She did not specify the actual amount of ingredients needed. What's drawn out here is solely based on my noob cooking experience and common sense :P By the way, my colleague is from China but then I think this dish will suit any Asian's palate. At least, I find that it tastes good. By the way, I'm a true-blue Singaporean.

 

Ingredients:

- 4 chicken thighs (chopped in big chunks)

- 1/2 can of beer (any brand)

- 1 tsp of minced garlic

- 1 knob of ginger (julienned)

- 1 tbs soya sauce

- 1 tsp five spice powder

- 3 star aniseed

- 1 tsp wolfberries (soaked for 10 mins)

- 3 chilli padi (optional)

- pinch of salt

1) Fry garlic and ginger until fragrant with some oil. Add chicken and stir-fry till partially cooked.

2) Pour in the beer, add the five spice powder, star aniseeds, wolfberries and soy sauce and close the cover of the pan/wok and cook until the chicken is done.

3) Add chilli padi and cook for another minute or two. Dish out and serve with rice.

Enjoy!

Click here for a step-by-step tutorial.

Steamed Prawns in Wine 酒蒸虾

 

My all-time favourite prawns, cooked in wine.

Ingredients:

- 20 medium-sized prawns

- 4 tbs huadiao wine

- 1/2 tsp sesame oil

- 1 1/2 tsp wolfberries (washed, soaked for 10 minutes and drained)

- 1 stalk of scallion (lower part cut in 1-inch length, upper part cut in 1/2cm or julienned for garnishing purpose)

- some cilantro leaves (for garnishing purpose)

- pinch of salt

1) Arrange prawns neatly on a plate and drizzle the wine, sesame, pinch of salt evenly over the prawns. Spread wolfberries evenly over prawns as well. Top with the 1-inch cut scallion.

2) Let prawns soak in the marinade for half an hour.

3) Bring the water in the wok/pan to boil and lower the plate of prawns and steam in high heat for 3 minutes or until the prawns turned completely red which denotes fully-cooked prawns. Do not over-cook the prawns.

4) Garnish with cilantro leaves and scallion. Serve immediately.

Enjoy!

Banana Oatmeal Cookies

 

An easy 3-ingredient and fool-proof recipe. Crispy on the outside and a lil' soft and chewy in the inside.

This recipe makes 12

Preparation 10 minutes

Cooking 15 minutes

Ingredients:

- 2 ripe medium-sized banana

- 1 cup of quickcook oats

- 2 heaps tbs of nutella

1) Mash the banana with a fork. Add oats and mix well. Stir in nutella until well combined.

2) Line cookie tray with parchment paper and drop a tablespoon of the mixture on the paper. Shape it if you want it to be more even and round in shape. Tips: It wouldn't spread much so it's alright not to space them apart widely.

3) Bake in pre-heated oven at 180c for 15 minutes.

4) Best serve fresh and warm out of oven, with a cuppa cold milk or hot coffee.

Enjoy!

Click here for a step-by-step tutorial.

Hong Kong-style Steamed SeaBass 港蒸金目鲈

Restaurant-styled steamed fish with sweet and savory soy sauce. The sauce mixture can be prepared the day before and chill in fridge until ready to use.

Ingredients:

- medium/big-sized whole fish

- 2 tbs vegetable oil

- 1 knob of ginger peeled and julienned

- 3-4 sprigs cilantro cut into 1-inch length(aka coriander/Chinese parsley)

- 3-4 sprigs scallion sliced diagonally (aka spring onion)

* A sprig is a single stem snipped from the plant.

 

Ingredients for sauce:

- 4 tbs (80ml) light soy sauce

- 4 tbs water

- 1 tbs huadiao wine (Shaoxing or Meihua brand or any other brands that you prefer)

- 1 tbs sugar

- 1 tsp sesame oil

- pinch of pepper

1) Combine the ingredients for the sauce and set aside.

2) Place cleaned fish on a plate with the fish being propped up by 2 ceramic spoons. Spread julienned ginger on top of the fish.

3) Bring water in wok/steamer to boil. Lower the plate of fish, cover wok/steamer and steam on high heat for 10-12 minutes depending on the size of the fish.

4) Discard ginger and remaining liquid. Transfer fish to a clean plate. Top steamed fish with the cilantro, scallion and the balance ginger {ginger can be fried in the oil in (5) if desired}

5) Heat up 2 tbs of oil and drizzle onto the fish. Using the same pan/wok for heating the oil, heat up the sauce mixture, stir gently and bring to a boil. Pour sauce onto fish. Serve immediately.

Enjoy!

Click here for a step-by-step tutorial.

Fried Calamari

 

For this recipe, the squids can be cleaned, cut and chill in fridge the night before and the flour mixture can be combined and stored in a zip-log bag as well. Simply place cut squids into the zip-log bag of flour mixture and toss until each piece of cut squid is well-coated when you are ready to fry them.

Ingredient:

- 450g squid (I used the frozen type)

- 1 cup of flour (plain/self-raising/semolina)

- 1 tsp salt

- 1 tsp ground paprika (mild)

- pinch of five spice and ground pepper

1) Clean the squid by removing the head. Remove in-nards, beak, cartilage, eyes and the purple skin membrane. Cut into the tube into 1cm ring and the head into half.

2) In a bowl, combine the flour, salt, paprika, five spice powder and pepper. Mix well.

3) Place cut squids into the flour mixture and coat each piece of cut squids well with the flour mixture.

4) Heat up oil and deep fried calamari, in batches, for a minute until lightly golden.

5) Place fried calamari onto a plate lined with paper kitchen towels to absorb excess oil.  Serve lemon lime/lemon, mayo and thai chill sauce alongside with the calamari.

Enjoy!

Click here for a step-by-step tutorial.

Yoghurt Mango Hotcakes

 

Hotcakes so good, you can even eat it on it's own.

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 flavoured yoghurt drink of your choice (I used the Mango flavoured one here)

- 1 egg

- pinch of salt

- 2 1/2 - 3 tsp of sugar

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

2) 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 on it's own or with whipped cream and fruits.

Enjoy!