Anncoo Journal

Purple Sweet Potato Ang Ku Kueh

2013-06-17T09:30:00.000+08:00

Ang Ku kueh is one of the popular Asian Snacks among the Chinese and Peranankan. Ang Ku kueh literally means Red Tortoise Cake. It is moulded to resemble a tortoise shell and is presented resting on a small piece of banana leaf. The Chinese traditionally believe that eating this 'Ang Ku Kueh' would bring longevity to those who are eating it and bring about good fortune and prosperity. But my 'Ang Ku Kueh here is in the shape of a peach shape (add in the Chinese word 'tao' 桃) and the purple colour is from the purple sweet potato.
I've to thank sweet May of 厨苑食谱 for sending me this double sided pretty mould which has the shape of a peach on one side and the word 'shou' 寿 on the other. These two shapes bearing the 'shou tao' 寿桃 should be made in red which symbolises a long, healthy life with great fortune for many generations.

I adapted the recipe from May with slight adjustment. This version is definitely healthier and easier to make compared to the one I made last time whereby the dough was made with coconut milk and the mung beans fried with shallot oil. I like this recipe as the dough skin and filling are smooth and soft. But my kueh looks quite transparent due to the thin dough skin. If you want to try this recipe and make a perfect ang ku kueh remember to make a thicker dough skin. Adjustment will be based on your own ang ku kueh mould.

Purple Sweet Potato Ang Ku Kueh

Ingredients: Makes about 14-15 pcs

Dough skin

125g Glutinous rice flour

90g Purple sweet potato

1/2 tbsp Caster sugar (or a little more sugar if you want a sweeter dough)

20ml Vegetable oil

100ml Water (boil 300ml water with 1 piece of pandan leaf for few minutes, leave to cool,
then measure to 100ml)

Filling

150g Spilt mung beans (skinless)

2 pcs Pandan leaves

90g Caster sugar

3 tbsp Vegetable oil

15 small pieces clean banana leaves, cut to the size larger than the cavity of the mould. Grease some oil on the banana leaf before placing the angu ku kueh on top before steaming

Method:

Rinse mung beans several times and soak with water in a large bowl (water about 3 inches above mung beans) for 1 1/2 hours, drain well and steam together with 2 pieces of pandan leaves for 15 - 20 minutes or till soft.
Immediately place cooked mung beans, sugar and vegetable oil in a food processor and blend till fine and smooth and cool down a little. Roll mung bean mixture into small balls for about 22g each and set aside for later use.
Cut sweet purple potato into chunk and steam for about 15 minutes or till soft. Remove skin and mash with sugar till fine.
In a large bowl mix glutinous rice flour, mashed sweet potato and vegetable oil together and slowly add in the pandan water. Knead dough to smooth, add a little more glutinous rice flour if you find the dough is still sticky.
Roll dough into small balls, about 23-24g each. Flatten the dough and wrap the filling into it. Roll into ball and dust with some glutinous rice flour. Press firmly into the mould. Knock out the kueh and place it on to the greased banana leaf.
Heat up the steamer or wok with boiling water, place the kueh on the steaming tray and steam for about 10-12 minutes.Open the lid to let the steam to escape after 3 minutes of steaming and place the lid back on the wok. note: Wrap the lid with a big cheese cloth to prevent the water drips from the lid onto the kueh , this also prevent the kueh pattern faded after steaming.
The kueh will change to darker a colour and slightly expanded. It will shrunk after cooled.
Remove the kueh from tray, grease some oil on it and leave to cool.

Hope you have a wonderful week ahead!

Gourmet Living Magazine Giveaway

2013-06-14T05:30:00.000+08:00

I'm so excited and happy to share this piece of news with you. Two of my recipes are being featured on Gourmet Living Magazine (时尚品味）Jun/Jul issue! Thanks to Gourmet Living for featuring my recipes for the first time in the magazine. I've created one dessert ~ Lime Coconut Jelly with Lychees and Roselle Cupcakes was selected from my blog.

I'm giving away the Gourmet Living Magazine to four readers (internationally). In order to win this giveaway, all you have to do to is to leave a comment with your name and email address .
Closing date will be on next Wednesday 19th June 2013, Singapore time 9 pm.

If you're not selected in this giveaway, hopefully you'll get a copy of the Gourmet Living Magazine which is available from today at all newsstands and book stores.

Quick Oat Cookies

2013-06-06T09:00:00.000+08:00

Nothing could be easier than making these Quick Oat Cookies without butter, flour or egg and they are very, very healthy too. While I was surfing on the net for an easy recipe, this "Two Ingredients Cookies" posted by Lauren of The Burlap Bag caught my attention. I was quite doubtful at first using only two main ingredients - Banana and Quick Oats' and with combination of little amount of dried fruits to make them into cookies. Since I've all the ingredients except chocolate chips on my pantry, I just went ahead to make these cookies and within 15 minutes of baking my freshly baked healthy cookies were out of the oven. I let them rest for about 5 minutes and quickly grabbed one to try. The cookie was perfect to me as I really love the soft texture and chewy dried fruits inside. The sweetness of the cookie comes from the ripe banana. I made them into small bite size and they were almost gone within a day and these quick cookies definitely taste better the next day. Your kids will love them if little chocolate chips are added but remember not to add too many mix-ins as the cookies won't hold together very well. These healthy cookies are great for snack or even for picnics.

Quick Oat Cookies

Ingredients:

3 Ripe bananas (skinned), about 330g

150g Quick cooked oats (from PH)

50g Dried apricots or dried cranberries, cut to smaller pieces

50g Raisins

Method:

Mash the bananas with a fork together with the quick oats.
Add in dried apricots and raisins and mix well. Add a little more Quick Oats if you find the mixture too runny.
Spoon the mixture with a spoon and drop it on the greased baking sheet.
Bake at preheated oven at 180C for about 13-15 minutes.

Enjoy!

Mixed Fruit Pastry Cake

2013-06-03T10:00:00.000+08:00

I have a habit of buying too many fresh fruits every week and many a time couldn't finish them before they turned bad. Recently there are lot of red plums in the market, needless to say I bought them again together with other fruits as well. Getting little tired of eating the plums, I combined them with canned peaches to bake this beautiful cake. This cake is actually the same as the Fruit Pastry cake that I baked in 2010 (here) only that this time I used less fruits. I'm sure many of you will still remember how popular the cake was amongst many bloggers few years ago. This is still a very addictive cake and you'll definitely love to go for more than a slice.

Here is another short note. I wish to thank World Kitchen (Asia Pacific) for sending this complimentary gift, Snapware Eco Flip Glass. World Kitchen (Asia Pacific) Pte Ltd markets a wide variety of well-known and trusted kitchenware brands that include Corelle, Corningware, Pyrex, Visions, Ekco, Baker's Secret, Revere and Chicago Cutlery. Please check on my Snapware@ Cupcake and Cookie Keeper Set for Review.

SNAPWARE Eco Flip is one of the first few glass bottles in the market, and it prides itself for healthy hydration.

Mixed Fruit Pastry Cake

Ingredients:

100g Butter, soften at room temperature

150g Caster sugar

2 tbsp Sour cream/natural yoghurt

3 Eggs, lightly beaten

1 tsp Vanilla extract

1 tbsp Lemon juice & zest from one lemon

210g Plain flour - sifted

1 tsp Baking powder

5-6 Fresh red plums, stoned and slice thickly.

1 canned Halve peaches, rinses away the syrup and pat dry, slice thickly

Method:

Grease a 9 inch round cake pan with butter and flour or non-stick pray and line the base with parchment paper.
Cream butter, sugar and sour cream till light and fluffy.
Dribble in the eggs gradually and beat till incorporated in the batter, (The mixture appear slightly curdled)
Add vanilla extract, lemon juice and zest.
Dump in the flour and baking powder and use a rubber spatula to stir roughly and continue to cream the batter with mixer until smooth. Pour batter into prepared pan and smooth out the top with a spatula.
Arrange fruits on top, don't press the fruits down into batter. Decorate the fruits as desired.
Bake in preheated oven at 180 degrees C for 60-70 mins or until skewer comes out clean when inserted into the cake. Cover the top with foil in the last 15 minutes of baking to prevent the top from getting over browned.
Leave the cake to cool in the pan for about 5-10 minutes. Unmold and transfer to wire rack to cool.
Dust cake with icing sugar (I used snow powder).

Enjoy and Have a Wonderful Week Ahead!

Steamed Meat Bao with Preserved Vegetables

2013-05-30T10:00:00.000+08:00

'Bao' or Bun is the theme for Aspiring Bakers for the month of May and I just can't find an excuse for not joining even though tomorrow is the last day for submission, simply because I love to eat Bao. I've adapted this bao recipe from 孟老师的中式面食. This is a rather easy recipe as you can follow 孟老师's step by step video (below). As my preference is savoury Bao, , so for the filling I mixed minced pork with preserved vegetables (sweet and salted preserved vegetables - 甜梅菜/咸梅菜). After steaming the meat baos, I had two in a go... hahaa, really like the filling and the dough is also not bad but a little dry upon cooling down. Maybe I didn't knead the dough long enough. Anyway we finished the buns in one day sharing with friends.

Steamed Meat Bao With Preserved Vegetables

梅菜肉包子

Ingredients: makes 15

Filling
60g Preserved (salty) vegetables (咸梅菜)
50g Preserved (sweet) vegetables (甜梅菜)
300-320g Minced pork
1 tbsp Light soya sauce
1/2 tbsp Sugar
1/2 tbsp Cooking wine
a dash of pepper
1/2 tbsp Corn flour
2 tbsp Cooking oil
1 tbsp Sesame seeds (toasted)

Bao dough (recipe adapted from 茄子, in Chinese version）
135g Plain water
1 tsp Instant dry yeast
250g Plain flour (I used Hong Kong flour)
15g Caster sugar
1 tsp Oil

Method:

Filling

Rinse preserved salted and sweet vegetables several times. Then soak them in a bowl of water for 45 minutes. Rinse and squeeze dry, chop to pieces.
Heat wok with oil and fry the preserved salted and sweet vegetables for a while and add mince pork into and fry till meat separated. Add in all the seasoning and stir fry till meat is cooked. Lastly add toasted seseme seeds, stir well. Dish up and side aside for later use.

Bao dough

Mix all bao dough ingredients together (as shown in the video) and knead to smooth, dust some flour if you find the dough sticky (I kneaded the dough for about 10 minutes). Cover and rest the dough for 5 minutes.
Roll the dough into cylinder shape and cut into 15 pieces, about 35g each.
Flatten each dough into a small flat disc with a rolling pin, make the edges thinner and centre portion thicker.
Wrap the dough with filling, sprinkle with some toasted sesame seeds on top and place on a small square of parchment paper. Then place the dough bao into the steamer with water below (not boiled yet), cover and proof for 15 minutes.
Bring water to boil and steam the buns for 12 minutes.
Off heat, leave the lid slightly open for 3-5 minutes before removing the whole cover.

I am submitting this post to Aspiring Bakers #31: Bao Ho-Chiak 包好吃 (May 2013)

hosted by Miss B of Everybody Eats Well in Flanders.

Orange Ogura Cake

2013-05-27T09:00:00.000+08:00

Recently, there have been many posts on Ogura Cake by the baking bloggers. I'm not sure about the meaning of Ogura in Japanese but in Chinese it's known as xiang Si dan Gao (相思蛋糕), literally means Pining4U or Lovesick Cake. This cake is actually a plain cake but the texture is like a chiffon cake, cottony, light and soft but baked in a normal cake pan. I was very much inspired by many talented bakers who have created Ogura Cakes of different flavours. The most recent ones were posted by Jane and Helena. Jane made the cake with coffee flavour and Helena made hers with rose water and cranberry. I just can't wait to jump on the bandwagon and made this Orange Ogura Cake. It is no surprise that this cake is a big hit, I just fell in love with it at the first bite. Would you like to join in on this bandwagon too?

Orange Ogura Cake

Ingredients:

70g Orange juice
40g Vegetable oil
1/4 tsp Salt
55g Hong Kong Flour/Plain flour or Cake flour
zest from 2 oranges
4 Egg yolks + 1 whole egg (60g each)
150g Egg white
1/4 tsp Cream of tartar
60g Sugar

Method:

Line baking sheet at the bottom of an ungreased 7 inch square pan and preheat the oven to 160C with a tray of boiling water on the most bottom rack.
Whisk egg yolks,and vegetable oil until frothy and add orange juice, mix well. Sift in flour and orange zest, mix well set aside.
Using an electric mixer, whisk egg white, cream of tartar and castor sugar till peak form (not stiff).
Mix 1/3 of meringue with yolk batter with a rubber spatula. Then pour in balance of meringue. Fold gently to mix well.
Pour batter into pan and tap pan lightly to remove air bubbles.
Steam bake for 40 minutes at 160°C and bake for another 20 minutes at lower temperature 140°C.
Remove cake immediately after baked and invert cake on wire rack to cool.

Enjoy!

Udon, Mushroom and French Beans

2013-05-23T09:00:00.000+08:00

After posted so many cakes and desserts, I think it's time to post a healthy meal. I'm sure many of you like me love udon either stir fry or soup. So today I'm sharing with you my concoction of this healthy udon tossed with shitake mushrooms and French beans and garnished with a simple dressing. This one dish or meatless meal is so wonderfully delicious that I really don't mind having it thrice a week.

According to Organic Facts and Healthism, mushrooms contain more than twice the amount of protein as other vegetables and the health benefits include relief from cholesterol levels and many cancer disease. It also helps in weight loss, increasing immunity. French beans are sweet, tender and wonderfully crispy. French beans are also beneficial for diabetic people as they help in preventing the sugar levels from rising up immediately after having a meal.

Udon, Mushroom and French Beans

Ingredients: serves 3

600g Udon
250g Fresh Shitake mushrooms
a bunch of French beans
1 tbsp Garlic, chopped

Dressing
200ml Water
3 tbsp Kikkomann soya sauce
1 1/2 tbsp Mirin
2 tsp Sesame oil
1 tsp Sugar
2 tsp Mustard powder (optional)
1 tbsp Corn flour
some cut green and red chillies for garnishing

Method:

Combine all the dressing ingredients together in a small pot and stir to boil with a whisk. Lower heat and simmer for 30 seconds or till sauce thickened and set aside.
Gently wipe the fresh shitake mushroom with a damp cloth or a paper towel and remove stem and slice mushrooms.
Heat non-stick pan at medium heat with a little oil and saute garlic for a while, add mushrooms into it and stir fry for about 2 minutes. Then add 1/2 tbsp of oyster sauce and 3 tbsp of water into the mushrooms and fry for another 2 minutes with a dash of pepper. Dish up and set aside.
Rinse French beans and blanch them in a pot of boiling water with a pinch of salt for 2 to 3 minutes. Then soak the beans in cold water for 30 seconds and strain, cut them diagonally, set aside.
Blanch the udon in the same pot of boiling water for 2-3 minutes until udon separated and cooked. (while blanching the udon, warm up the sauce at low heat).
Divide udon equally in 3 serving bowls or plates, top with French beans and mushrooms. Gently drizzle with 4-5 tablespoons of the dressing over it with a dash of black or white pepper when serve. (do not add too much of the dressing as it is quite salty, just add to taste). Ganish with some red and green chillies on top.
Toss the udon well before consume.

This post is linked to the blog hop event Little Thumbs Up organized by

Zoe of Bake for Happy Kids and Doreen of My Little Favourite DIY .

The ingredient for this month is MUSHROOM and hosted by Joyce of Kitchen Flavours .

Enjoy and Have a Wonderful Weekend!

Upside Down Mini Mango Cakes

2013-05-20T09:00:00.000+08:00

As now is the mango season, you can find very cheap and sweet mangoes everywhere. It is also the best time to use the mangoes for bakes or desserts. As I've made the mango pudding before, this time around I made Upside Down Mini Mango Cakes. It is a very easy recipe to follow and very fragrant with the combinations of coconut milk, desiccated coconut and ground almond. So good to serve them warm and you can taste the mixed flavours of the cake in your mouth. Definitely a keeper!

Upside Down Mini Mango Cakes

Ingredients:

1-2 Fresh Mango, slice to about 3 mm thick

180g Butter

210g Sugar

4 Eggs (70g each), lightly beaten

120g Self raising flour, sifted

4 tbsp Ground almond

2 tbsp Desiccated coconut

80g Coconut milk (Kara brand)

1/2 tsp Vanilla extract
1 tbsp Apricot gel mix well with 2 tbsp hot water

Method:

Preheat oven to 200 degrees C. Grease muffin pan (12 holes) and line with with mango slices.
Put butter and sugar in a bowl and beat until light and creamy. Gradually add the egg, beating well after each addition.
Stop machine fold in the sifted flour with a rubber spatula, then add the almonds, desiccated coconut and coconut milk, mix well (do not overmix).
Spoon batter into the muffin holes and bake for about 20 minutes or until a skewer comes out clean when inserted in the middle.
Rest the cakes for 5 minutes in the muffin pan and turn them out on the wire rack. Glaze with some apricot gel on top of mango and dust with little cocoa powder.
Serve cakes warm or cool.

Enjoy!

Kahlua Coffee Jelly

2013-05-16T08:00:00.001+08:00

Japanese Coffee Jelly (kōhii zerii) is one of the most popular dessert served in most coffee shops and restaurants in Japan during the summertime. I remember I had one when I was in Japan many years ago. For our hot weather here, I think it is also very suitable to make this Coffee Jelly to ease the heat. I've tweaked the recipe by adding kahlua liqueur into the coffee and I've also changed the cream (some used whipped cream or condensed milk) for the topping to soya milk together with kahlua liqueur to make it more boozy. This Coffee Jelly is not very sweet and has a little bitter taste because I've used the Nescafe classic (stronger black coffee instant powder). So mind you, this is an adult's dessert or for coffee lovers and definitely not suitable for kids.

Kahlua Coffee Jelly

Ingredients: makes about 6-7 cups

600ml Water

15g Gelatine powder (1 tbsp + 1 tsp)

5 1/2 tbsp Sugar

2 tbsp Instant coffee powder (Nescafe classic)

1 tbsp Kahlua liqueur

Topping

100ml Soya milk (reduced sugar)

1 1/2 tbsp Kahlua liqueur

Method:

Soak gelatine powder with 2 tbsp water, set aside.
Boil water with sugar and reduce heat to medium and add in the gelatine. Stir till gelatine melted and bring to boil again.
Turn off heat, add in coffee powder, stir well and lastly add in Kahlua liqueur. Then pour into moulds or cups. Leave to cool and chill to set in the refrigerator.
For topping: Mix the soya milk and kahlua liqueur together and add about 2 to 3 tablespoons of the mixture over the coffee jelly when serve.

Enjoy & Have A Wonderful Weekend!

Fifteen Minutes Pizza

2013-05-13T09:00:00.000+08:00

The weather was so hot yesterday that I wasn't in the mood to do anything at home except making individual pizza using some leftovers with wholemeal wraps. This pizza is so easy to make and you can add in any of your favourite toppings. Not only are they delicious they also save time and money. Just pop the pizza into the hot oven for only 15 minutes and you're done. You can also let your kids to have some fun and create their their own pizza to satisfy their cravings.

Easy Pizza

Ingredients:

4 pcs Wholemeal Wrap

4 pcs Ham

1 small can Tomato paste (any brand)

some cherry tomatoes, black olives, mozzarella cheese

Method:

Preheat oven to 200 degrees C.
Slice ham and tomatoes to small pieces.
Spread some tomato paste on wraps and scatter with mozerella cheese.
Add ham, tomato and black olive evenly on top and lastly scatter with more mozzarella cheese on top. Bake for 15 mins or until the base is crisp and the cheese is melted.
You may also add some basil leaves or other herbs on the cooked pizza if you like.

Enjoy!

Moist Strawberry Cupcakes

2013-05-10T15:30:00.004+08:00

Mother's Day is just around the corner, that is exactly two days away and many of you are still busy thinking what gifts to get for your mom to show how much you love her. I'm sure your mom will appreciate anything you get for her. Besides sending flowers and gifts, why not also bake a cake that your mom would enjoy. Here is a very moist and delicious (no egg yolks) strawberry cupcake recipe which I want to share with you. These cupcakes are wonderful when served warm for firstly you get to taste the crispy crust and at the same time enjoy the soft texture of the cake....heavenly! I also played with fondant a little, made some roses and leaves, then decorated them on the cake. If you think that making fondant flowers are too time consuming, why not frost the cake with cream cheese and insert a cupcake topper on top. I'm sure you mom will be very pleased and impressed :)

Wishing a Wonderful Mother's Day to All the Mothers in This World.
I'm also linking this post to the Bake-Along blog hop event hosted by
Joyce of Kitchen Flavours , Lena of Frozen Wings and Zoe of Bake for Happy Kids
Congratulations to Bake Along on your 2nd Anniversary!

Moist Strawberry Cupcakes

Ingredients: recipe adapted from Yummy Cakes by Lynn with slight modification

2 1/2 tbsp Strawberry jam (from Mark and Spencers)

80 - 100g Fresh strawberries, chop to small pieces

150g Plain flour

1 1/4 tsp Baking powder

1/4 tsp Salt

100g Sugar (already reduced)

125g Butter, softened

3 Egg whites (used large egg at 70g each), lightly beaten

1/2 tsp Vanilla extract

2 drops of rose pink food colouring

70g Full cream milk/whipping cream

Method:

Preheat oven to 180C. Position a rack in the middle of the oven.
Sieve plain flour, baking powder and salt together, set aside.
Beat sugar and butter until light and fluffy at medium speed.
Add egg whites, vanilla extract and food colouring, and beat until combined. (the mixture will look rather waterly at this stage). Scrape bowl down with a rubber spatula.
Add flour mixture in three additions, alternating with milk in two additions, beating on low speed until just combined.
Scrape bowl and fold in the strawberry jam with a rubber spatula until just combined and lastly add in the chopped strawberries.
Fill batter into your cupcake liners to 3/4 full. Bake for 25 minutes, until centers bounce back when touched or when skewer inserted in center comes out clean.
Decorate the cake as desire.

Enjoy and have a wonderful weekend!

Wordless Wednesday ~ Sugar Cane Jelly

2013-05-08T08:30:00.000+08:00

Sorry, no recipe for today's post. This is a failed recipe but I'd love to share these pictures with you.
I made these Sugar Cane Jellies twice but ended in dismal result :(( As the sugar cane juice is already very sweet, I just boiled it with agar agar powder and green lemon juice. I even tasted the liquid when boiling, the taste was perfect with lemon added but the jellies are not sweet at all after setting. Not satisfied with the outcome, I went to buy the sugar cane juice again the next day and boiled with konnyaku powder and added extra 5 tbsp of sugar. The sugar cane jellies are only slightly sweeter than the first one but I still don't get the sugar cane taste! WHY huh? 真是好看不好吃！
If you have a good sugar cane jelly recipe, please share with me too :)

Easy Apple Tarts

2013-05-06T09:00:00.001+08:00

Hello friends, what to you do when you're tired or busy but wanted to prepare a quick snack for your loved ones to enjoy? I love apple pie or tart but just too lazy to make the filling. So here is a very simple method to make these apple tarts and you'll get the fresh and hot tarts out of the oven in just about 20 minutes. Just remember that you must choose apples that are very crunchy and firm so that you can still feel a little bit of crisp of the sliced apples after baked. You may also add a dallop of vanilla ice cream to go with the warm apple tart if you like.

Easy Apple Tarts

Ingredients:

5 pieces Frozen puff pastry, size about 4 inch square or cut to rectangular size if you like

1 Green apple

1 Red apple

Cinnamon powder

Coarse sugar

Raisins

Method:

Thaw frozen puff pastry in the chiller before use.
Cut the frozen puff pastry to require size and place on baking sheet and prick holes in pastry with a fork, set aside. Dust some flour on the pastry if you find them sticky.
Remove the stems and cores with a sharp knife. Slice the red and green apples with skin on to about 4mm thick and place them overlapping neatly on top of the puff pastry.
Sprinkle little cinnamon powder over the sliced apples and add some raisins on top. Then sprinkle generously with coarse sugar over it.
Bake at preheated oven at 200 degrees C for about 20-25 minutes or until the pastry golden and puffed up.

Enjoy!

Sakura Cheesecake 桜のチーズケーキ

2013-05-02T09:00:00.000+08:00

Made this lovely Sakura Cheesecake during the weekend. I used the remaining pickled sakura and ume jam from my Sakura Roll to make this yummy cheesecake. This is an easy to do recipe with a straight forward method and you don't have to turn on the oven as it is a No-bake cheesecake. After soaking the pickled (salty) sakura, the dried flower is tasteless, it's only used for decoration. I used up all the remaining ume jam and added one more tablespoon of lemon juice. So happy that the cheesecake has an aftertaste of the tangy ume jam. This can be quite addictive if you like No-bake cheesecake.

Sakura Cheesecake (桜のチーズケーキ)

Ingredients

8 - 10 Pickled Sakura Cherry Blossoms

Rinse off the salt on the Pickled Sakura Cherry Blossoms and soak them for 2 hours and

gently pat dry with paper towel.

Base
180g Marie biscuits (crushed)

150g Melted Butter

Filling
250g Cream Cheese, rtoom temperature
3 tbsp Sugar
1 tbsp Lemon juice
1 tbsp Gelatin
2 tbsp Water
60ml Milk or whipping cream
250ml Non-dairy topping cream
4 tbsp Ume jam or use yuzu jam

Topping
250ml Water
35g Sugar
30g Instant Jelly
1/2 tsp Gelatin soak with 1/2 tbsp water and set aside

Method:

Line a 23cm round pan (with removable base), set aside.
Combine crushed biscuit and melted butter together in a mixing bowl.
Press the biscuit crumbs onto the base of the prepared pan and put it in the refrigerator for later use.
Soak gelatin with 2 tbsp of water. Set aside to allow the gelatin to swell (about two minutes) before setting the bowl over a pot of simmering hot water. Stir with a spoon and once the gelatin melts, remove the bowl from the pot and set aside to cool to room temperature.
In a mixing bowl, at medium speed beat cream cheese and sugar until smooth, then gradually add in milk/whipping cream until combined.
Add in ume jam and lemon juice, mix to combine and add melted gelatin, mix well.
In another mixing bowl, whip the non-dairy topping cream until peak form ( not too stiff) and fold into the cream cheese mixture with a hand whisk and mix well.
Pour the cream cheese mixture on the prepared cake pan and gently place the pickled sakura on top.
Refrigerate for at least 4 hours or until set.
To make the topping: Add water, sugar and instant jelly in a small pot and stir till sugar dissolved at medium heat. Add in swelled gelatin and stir till melted. Cool down the liquid a little and gently pour on top of cheesecake. Chill cheesecake before serve.

Please click on my Sakura Roll recipe here if you're interested to get the pickled sakura online

Hope you have a wonderful weekend ahead!

Nutella Banana Muffins

2013-04-29T08:00:00.000+08:00

After making my Chocolate Nutella Chiffon Cake, I continued to make this popular Nutella Banana Muffins that are being shared by many bloggers although in slightly different versions, but I'm sure they are all very yummy. I've to thank Phong Hong for sharing this addictive recipe. It is so easy to make without using the cake mixer. Remember to use very ripe bananas and gently mix all the ingredients together. Lastly add generous teaspoon of Nutella spread and swirl into the batter. Looks like I didn't made a nice swirl effect, they look more like a volcano erupting... hahaa but the muffins were soft, moist and delicious. Trust me, if you love Nutella you will love these muffins.

Nutella Banana Muffins

Ingredients: makes 12 medium size muffins

230g Self raising flour

1/2 cup Brown sugar (60g)

1/2 tsp Cinnamon powder

2 large Eggs

1/2 cup Canola oil (90g)

135ml Plain yogurt

3 Medium ripe banana (180g skinned)

1 tsp Vanilla extract

12 generous tsp of Nutella

Method:

Preheat oven to 160 degrees C.
In a mixing bowl add sugar, ground cinnamon, eggs, oil, yogurt, mashed bananas and vanilla extract. Stir well together with a hand whisk.
In another mixing bowl, sift flour and make a well in the centre.
Pour the wet ingredients into the flour and lightly fold until just combined. Do not overmix.
Scoop batter into muffin cups 3/4 full and top each muffin with a generous teaspoon of Nutella.
Using a butter knife, swirl the Nutella in the batter.
Bake for 20-25 minutes.

I'm sharing this post to Meatless Monday

Enjoy and have a wonderful week ahead!

Earl Grey Tea Cake

2013-04-25T09:00:00.000+08:00

Hi, today's post is Earl Grey Tea's recipe again. I love Earl Grey Tea, love how it smells and so perfect to use in bakes. Remember I baked one chiffon cake and cookies with Earl Grey Tea before? And this time I baked this Earl Grey Tea Cake for submitting to the Aspiring Bakers April event. Sorry AB, I've not joined you for a long time. This tea cake is so fragrant with Earl Grey Tea and lemon zest. It's also complemented by the generous brushing of the lemon syrup on the cake. Simply no fuss free tea cake for an afternoon tea.

Earl Grey Tea Cake

Ingredients: recipe adapted from the book of Okashi page 130

150g Plain flour

1/8tsp Baking powder

150g Butter, softened

130g Confectioner sugar (icing sugar)

1/2 tbsp Glucose/golden syrup or honey

3 Eggs (70g each)

1/8 tsp Salt

5g Earl grey tea dust from 2 tea bags

15g Ground almond

1 tbsp Fresh whole milk

Lemon zest from 1 large lemon

To make lemon syrup for brushing

- 50g sugar + 100g very hot water, stir well and add 2 tbsp lemon juice in it, mix well, set aside.

Methods:

Preheat oven to 170C. Line a 19 x 9 x 8cm loaf tin with parchment paper all sides up.
Sift flour and baking together twice, set aside.
Beat butter, icing sugar and glucose together until light and very fluffy. Gradually add eggs and beat well, then add salt, tea dust, ground almonds, lemon zest and milk. Mix well.
Add flour mixture and fold through completely using a spatula. Surface of batter should be glossy and smooth.
Pour batter into prepared loaf tin and for 50 minutes or skewer inserted into the center of the cake comes out clean. Note that the baking time may vary according to your oven.
When the cake is done, unmould cake and peel away parchment paper. Place cake on a wire rack and brush with lemon syrup while cake is still warm.
Leave to cool completely before serving. If storing, wrap with cling wrap.

Kitchen note: My cake is a little flat as I've used a loaf tin slightly bigger than the 19cm and had shortened the baking time to 35 minutes.

I'm submitting this post to Aspiring Bakers # 30: It's Tea Time! (April 2013)
hosted by Food Playground

Chocolate Nutella Chiffon Cake

2013-04-22T09:00:00.000+08:00

If you've visited my blog very often, you'll know that I've many chiffon cake recipes and can never get tired of baking it because I love the light and soft texture of the cake. Moreover, it can be polished off very quickly in a day or two, in my family. So when I saw Helena posted her beautiful Moist Chocolate Chiffon Cake using Kahlua two weeks ago, I told myself I've to try it soon and here is my Chocolate Chiffon Cake with Nutella instead. I even added half tablespoon of Nutella to mix with my leftover ganache cream and frosted them on the cake. Anyway it is optional to add the ganache cream, the cake tastes good too without it. The cake tastes perfect and and I totally agree with Helena that it is deliciously moist and fragrant. Definitely another keeper recipe!

Chocolate Nutella Chiffon Cake

Ingredients:

(A)

65g Hot Water

30g Valrohna Cocoa powder

1 heapful tbsp Nutella

1 tsp Vanilla extract

(B)

4 Egg yolks (used large eggs, 70g egg each)

30g Caster sugar

1/2 tsp Salt

(C)

50g Canola oil

50g Fresh milk

(D)

90g Plain flour (sifted)

10g Corn flour

(E)

4 Egg whites

60g Caster sugar

1/2 tsp Cream of tartar

Method:

Mix ingredients (A), cocoa powder with hot water, add in 1 heapful tablespoon Nutella and mix till smooth, set aside.
Mix (B) ingredients together in a large bowl, egg yolks, salt and sugar, then add in (C) canola oil and milk. Then add in (A), cocoa mixture and mix well with a hand whisk.
Sift in (D) flour and corn flour and mix well.
Beat egg whites with medium speed until you can see big bubbles, add in cream of tartar. Continue to beat until the bubbles become fine soft peak, gradually add in caster sugar and continue to beat until stiff peak. Change the mixer speed to lowest and continue to beat for 10 seconds. (this is to minimize the air bubbles in the cake)
Gently fold 1/3 of the beaten egg white into egg yolk batter, use cut and fold method until well blended. Then pour the batter back to the rest of the egg white and fold until mixture is well blended.
Pour batter evenly into the ungreased chiffon cake pan (a heart shape or 18cm round tube pan). Gently bang the pan on the table top to release air bubbles.
Bake in pre-heated oven on lower rack, 160 degrees for 35-40 minutes.
Remove from oven, invert cake onto table until completely cooled.

You may like to refer to this site and order the heart shape tube pan online.

Hope you have a wonderful week ahead!

Sakura Roll (桜花蛋糕卷)

2013-04-17T15:30:00.000+08:00

I was very much smitten with the beautiful Sakura Rolls posted by many blogger friends last year. As the pickled sakura is not available here, I've to order online at Nihon Ichiban. Since I'm placing an order with them, I also ordered Cherry Blossom An Paste and a bottle of Ume Jam. So here I made Sakura Roll with the pickled sakura flowers and for the filling I used the easiest method, I spread a thin layer of Ume Jam (not advisable to add too much of this jam as it is quite sour) and sandwiched with fresh topping cream. Let me tell you ~ the Sakura Roll was so soft and moist and it was so delicious after chilling for few hours and even until the next day. In fact I kept two slices for 4 days and they still tasted very good. Thumbs Up for it!

These are what I bought at Nihon Ichiban

Don't you think these Pickled Sakura Cherry Blossoms look very beautiful and romantic?

Sakura Roll (桜花蛋糕卷)

Ingredients:

12 Pickled Sakura Cherry Blossoms

Rinse off the salt on the Pickled Sakura Cherry Blossoms and soak them for 2 hours and gently pat dry with paper towel.
Then place them at the centre of the baking tray (28 x 28cm or 10 x 10inch) lined with non-stick baking sheet and set aside.

Souffle roll Sponge adapted from the book of Okashi page 36

1 Whole egg

3 Egg yolks

1 tsp Vanilla extract

35g Butter

60g Top flour/all purpose flour, sifted

80g Fresh milk

3 Egg whites

85g Caster sugar

Filling

100g Fresh topping cream (can omit the whipping cream and use 200g topping cream if you got
sweet tooth)
100g Whipping cream

Adequate Ume Jam

Method:

Preheat oven to 180 degrees C.
Combine egg, egg yolks and vanilla extract in a small bowl and beat lightly. Set aside.
Place butter in a small saucepan, and heat gently until melted. Add flour to melted butter and cook through. Transfer butter-flour mixture to a bowl, then add egg mixture a little at a time. With a spatula, mix into a smooth batter. Add milk and mix to incorporate. Strain batter and set aside.
To maker meringue : Place egg whites in a clean bowl and beat until foamy. Add half the sugar and continue beating for a few minutes, then add remaining sugar and beat until egg whites are glossy peak form.
Add one-third of meringue to batter and fold in lightly, then add remaining meringue and fold through until just incorporated. Pour batter into prepared cake pan and spread evenly with a scraper or palette knife.
Bake for 20 minutes. When the cake is done, remove from pan and leave to cool down completely.
Turned cooled souffle sponge onto a parchment paper or a plastic sheet with the Pickled Sakura facing below. To prevent the rolling up slip easily, place a dry cloth beneath it.
Whip cream to stiff peak form. Spread whipped cream in an even layer over the entire sponge.
Spoon some Ume Jam (I didn't measure), and spread thinly and evenly over whipped cream then spread another layer of fresh cream on top.
Gently roll up sponge from the edge and refrigerate the roll for few hours until firm.

Just in time for an afternoon tea :)

Roselle Jelly

2013-04-15T09:00:00.002+08:00

After my recent post of Roselle Cupcakes using preserved dried Roselle, I finally managed to get the fresh Roselle from the wet market and happily bought 300g home as I wanted to make Roselle Jelly. I remember one of my friends told me before that she doesn't like the taste of the Roselle Tea as it tasted like Ribena or cough syrup to her. Bearing this in mind, I dropped 3 pcs of preserved plums (not the salted type but semi sweet - 甜酸梅) when boiling the jelly liquid. The Roselle Jelly was not bad at all, didn't taste much of the Ribena but instead there was a little sweetness of the preserved plums. So good to have this Roselle Jelly in this hot weather.

Many parts of Roselle including seeds, leaves, fruits and roots are used in various foods. They are used fresh for making wine, juice, jam, jelly, syrup, pudding, cakes, ice cream and flavours and also dried and brewed into tea, among other things. The dried fruit part of Roselle, is called calyx.

Roselle Jelly 洛神花果冻

Ingredients:

220g Fresh Roselle calyx

2000ml Water

Peel roselle calyx and discard the seed. Rinse the calyx several times.
Place calyx in a pot of 2000ml water and bring to boil. Then change to medium heat, cover and simmer for 30 minutes and leave to cool. Strain the roselle and discard.
You may serve warm or chill as tea with or without sugar added.

To make Roselle Jelly

1000ml Roselle tea

1 packet Konnyaku powder (from PH)

180g Sugar

3 pcs Preserved plum

Measure 1000ml roselle tea into a pot.
Mix knonnyaku powder and sugar together then pour into the roselle tea.
Stir mixture to boil at medium heat and drop preserved plums into it and keep stirring the liquid with a hand whisk for 3 minutes.
Off heat and pour liquid into serving cups and chill the Roselle Jelly for few hours before serve.

Enjoy!

Cornflake Cookies

2013-04-11T09:00:00.000+08:00

My friends and family love my Cornflake Cookies and it is their all time favourite. I used to make these fragrant and crispy cookies for festive seasons or at someone's request. So happens that I still have some cornflakes left in my pantry and without second thought, I made these cookies again for 'Little Thumbs Up' event. It is a very simple drop cookie recipe that I'm sure you will enjoy very much and they'll be gone within a day.

Cornflakes Cookies

Ingredients:

250g Butter
175g Icing sugar
1 Egg
1tsp Vanilla powder
350g Plain flour
1 tsp Baking powder
160g Cornflakes (use hand to crush slightly so that you can still feel the crisp of cornflakes after baked)
50g Black currant or dried cranberry if you like
Method:

Sieve and combine plain flour, baking powder and vanilla powder together with the crushed cornflakes and black currant, set aside.
Cream butter, egg and icing sugar together till white.
Pour in all the plain flour mixture to the butter mixture and mix them together at low speed (do not over beat), then mix well with a spatula.
Shape the cookie dough using a dessert spoon then using a butter knife to push the dough onto the baking sheet.
Bake at preheated oven 180 degrees C for about 15 mins. Then cool the cornflakes cookies completely and store into an airtight container.

This post is linked to the event, Little Thumbs up organised by Zoe (Bake for Happy Kids) and Mui Mui (My Little Favourite DIY) and hosted by Esther (Copycake Kitchen).

Fresh Corn Salad

2013-04-08T09:00:00.000+08:00

Hi ALL, Happy Monday everyone! For the first day of the week, let me share with you this nutritious healthy Fresh Corn Salad with simple ingredients and simple dressing. It is not only refreshing but also very addictive. You can mix in any fresh fruits like kiwi fruit, pear or any other fruit of your own choice. Kids and adults would surely enjoy its crunchiness and satisfying sweetness of this colourful salad. Great to serve as snack or side dish.

Fresh Corn Salad

Ingredients:

2 Fresh Corns
100g French beans
8-10 Cherry tomatoes
1/2 Red apple,
1-2 tbsp Lemon juice or to your taste
some mayonnaise (optional)

Methods:

Remove the husks and silk of the the fresh corns. Rinse and place them in a pot of boiling water (water just enough to cover corns).
Cover the pot and return the water to a boil. Cook the corns for about 8-10 minutes or until tender.
While boiling the corns, wash French beans, remove ends and string and set aside.
When the corns are cooked, add 1/2 tsp of salt into the water and boil for another 2 minutes, drain and leave to cool. Remove corn from cob with a sharp knife. (watch this video for how to remove corn from cob)
Throw the French beans into the same pot of boiling and blanch for about 3-5 minutes. Transfer French beans into a bowl of ice water for 1 minute and drain well.
Then dice French beans into small pieces and cut cherry tomatoes into quarters.
Combine the corns, French beans and cherry tomatoes in a serving bowl. Mix well, cover and chill for 1-2 hours.
Before serve, cut half apple into wedges and soak in water with little salt or lemon juice to prevent browning for one minute. Then chop apple into small pieces and mix together with the corn mixture.
Lastly drizzle 1-2 tbsp lemon juice over corn salad (mayonnaise-optional) and toss well.

This post is linked to the event, Little Thumbs up organised by Zoe (Bake for Happy Kids) and Mui Mui (My Little Favourite DIY) and hosted by Esther (Copycake Kitchen).

Fish Maw Soup 鱼鳔汤

2013-04-04T09:00:00.000+08:00

This is the second recipe that I adapted from Cass. When Cass posted this simple and delicious Fish Maw Soup, I quickly bookmarked and cooked this Fish Maw soup during Chinese New Year. A very simple and satisfying soup that my family really enjoyed very much. *Sorry this is actually a late post that was left in my draft for quite sometime.

Fish maw (鱼鳔 - yú biào is an excellent source of collagen and cabbage. Many Chinese people believe that drinking fish maw soup and eating fish maw will improve their complextion. Napa cabbage may reduce the risk of developing certain types of cancer. The isothiocyanates found in Napa cabbage may lower the chances of lung cancer among smokers.

Fish Maw Soup

Ingredients: with slight adjustment, serves 6

80g Fish Maw

1.5L Chicken broth (Swanson brand) + 800ml water

300g Napa cabbage, cut to 4 cm

1 tsp Salt

2 pinces Pepper

Coriander

Prawn Meatballs

150g Minced pork

200g Prawns without shell, blended

5 Water chestnuts, peeled and chopped

1/2 tsp Salt

1/2 tsp Sesame oil

1/2 tbsp Water

2 tsp Cornstarch

1/2 tbsp spring onion, cut finely

Method:

Soak fish maw in a large basin of cold water until soft. Remove, cut into 2 1/2cm (1 in) cubes and rinse.
Mix prawn meatball ingredients together and chill for 30 minutes then divide into small portions, about 20- 25. Wet your hands and roll them into balls, this will stop the meat sticking to your hands.
Heat stock in a large pot, add cabbage, salt, pepper and fish maw and simmer until cabbage is tender.
When cabbage is almost done, add prawn meatballs and simmer until they rise to the surface.
Garnish with coriander leaves/cut spring onion and serve immediately.

Hope you have a nice weekend!

Oreo Cheesecake Bars

2013-04-01T08:45:00.000+08:00

These Cheesecake Bars are loaded with crushed Oreo cookies at the base and Oreo Cookies scattered throughout the cheesecake with a layer of chocolate ganache cream on top (refer here for ganache cream recipe). I also top it with cute chocolate panda that I bought from the shop (here). The combinations are so perfect that I've to bake a second batch the next day.

Oreo Cheesecake Bars

Ingredients:

Line 8 x 8 x 1 1/2 inch baking pan with parchment paper.

Cake Base - lined and greased baking pan
160g Oreo cookies, remove the cream and crush it or grind coarsely
80g Melted butter or add a little more if needed

Mix crushed Oreo cookies with butter and press them firmly on the base of the prepared pan and chill in the refrigerator for later use.

Cream Cheese filling:
250g Cream cheese (room temperature)
70g Sugar
3 Eggs
1 tsp Vanilla extract
1 tbsp Fresh milk
100ml Sour cream/natural yoghurt
3 tbsp Plain flour - sifted
70g Oreo cookies, remove cream and break into quarters, alternatively you can break the whole Oreo together with the cream if got a sweet tooth

Method:

Beat cream cheese and sugar until smooth and creamy.
Add sour cream, milk and vanilla extract, mix well.
Add eggs, one at a time, beating after each just until blended and add 3 tbsp sifted flour into it and mix well.
Lastly add in Oreo cookies and fold in with a rubber spatula and pour into prepared baking pan.
Bake at pre-heated oven at 150 degrees C for about 30 minutes.
Leave cheesecake to cool completely. Spread chocolate ganache cream on it and decorate as desire or just dust some icing sugar on top.
Chill cheesecake for few hours before serve.
Note: For perfect slices, dip your knife in hot water and quickly dry it off before each cut

Hope you have a wonderful week ahead!

Chocolate Drop Mini Muffins with Red Noses (Delia Smith)

2013-03-28T09:00:00.000+08:00

I've missed joining the event Cook Like A Star for quite sometime and the feature for this month is recipes from Delia Smith. I adore Delia Smith's recipes as they are quite easy to follow. Actually I've picked Bacon and Egg Tart and Lemon Tart to try but when I was checking on the chocolate recipes, I saw this peculiar name that caught my attention .... with Red Noses? Sounds funny huh... hahaa, after checking on the recipe then I realized that it's the little red glace cherry that was placed on top of the small muffin. OK set! I'll try this recipe as it looks quite easy and the baking time is real short, only 10 minutes. BUT my muffins did not rise at all, may be I've over mixed the ingredients. The chocolate chips did not melted completely either that may also be one of the causes why my cake did not rise (might have also used the wrong ingredients) as there were still some chocolate chips remaining at the bottom of the cake. Anyway the mini muffins were really soft and light. I can just pop the whole cake in my mouth even without the chocolate topping. For the topping I didn't melt the chocolate chips as stated in the recipe but just added some of the leftover ganache cream on the little muffins and placed the red glace cherry on top which looked really like a ruby jewel. So pretty!

Chocolate Drop Mini Muffins with Red Noses

Ingredients: makes 12 (recipe from Delia Smith)

150g Plain flour
2 level tbsp Valrhona cocoa powder (13g)

1 level dstsp Baking powder (2g)
1/4 tsp Salt
1 Egg (70g), lightly beaten
40g Caster sugar (I used 30g)
120ml Fresh milk
50g Butter, melted and cooled slightly
50g Plain chocolate drops (used 30g chocolate chips)

For the topping: (from the original recipe)
65g Chocolate drops
12 Red glace cherries
Icing sugar, sifted

or use Ganache cream as topping
200g Semi sweet chocolate, chop to pieces
20g Butter, cubes
100g Whipping

Method:

Start off by sifting the flour, cocoa powder, baking powder and salt into a large bowl.
In a separate bowl, mix together the egg, sugar, milk and melted butter.
Sieve the flour mixture the second time directly on to the egg mixture (this double sifting is essential because there won't be be much mixing going on).
Now is to take a large spoon and fold the ingredients into the wet ones - quickly, in about 15 seconds. Don't be tempted to beat or stir, and don't be alarmed by the rather unattractive, uneven appearance of the mixture: this, in fact, is what will ensure that the muffins stay light.
Lastly fold the chocolate chips into the mixture - again with a minimum of stirring, just a quick folding in.
Divide the mixture between the muffin cups evenly and bake on a high shelf in the preheated oven 200 degrees C for 10 minutes, until well risen. Then remove the muffins from the oven and cool in the tins for 5 minutes before transferring them to a cooling tray.
While they're cooling, place the chopped chocolate and butter in a bowl.
Boil the whipping cream (boil a little more then measure 100g) and pour it on to the chocolate pieces and stir till smooth.
Then spoon a little melted chocolate on to the little muffin and fix a cherry on top and dust some icing sugar on top before serving.

I'm submitting this post to the blog hop event Cook Like a Star featuring Delia Smith's recipes

hosted by Zoe of Bake for Happy Kids , Yen of Eat your Heart Out and Mich of Piece of Cake

Roselle Cupcakes

2013-03-25T09:00:00.000+08:00

I've never heard of or seen Roselle (洛神花) before not until when I saw some of my blogger friends who used the fresh Roselle to make into jelly many months back. I was so eager to try this new ingredient at that time but unfortunately I couldn't get the fresh ones from the market. Just one week ago as I was walking along Bugis Street, I saw a shop in Fu Lu Shou building basement, selling preserved dried Roselle . I was allowed to sample a little and immediately fell in love with it. The Roselle is not only sweet and sour, it is also crunchy and the price is reasonable, around two dollars for 200 gram. Besides snacking, I also added them in the cupcakes. The preserved dried Roselle tasted like dried cranberry in the cupcakes and you can still taste its crunchiness. Don't you think it is also nice to go with a cup of Roselle tea as well? :)

The benefits of Roselle are that it helps lower cholesterol, normalize blood pressure, overcome cough, sore throat and sores and weight loss, You may like to read more about Roselle from here and here.

Roselle Cupcakes

Ingredients: Makes 15 for medium size cupcake liner

150g Butter, softened
1 tsp Vanilla extract
220g Caster sugar
2 Large eggs (70g each)
185g Plain flour, sifted
75g Self raising flour, sifted
200g Natural yogurt/sour cream
100g Dried Roselle, cut into small pieces and toss with 1tbsp flour taken from the 185g plain flour above

Methods:

Preheat oven to 170C.
Beat butter, vanilla extract and sugar in a mixing bowl until light and fluffy. Add eggs, one at a time until combined. Transfer to a large bowl.
Fold in sifted flour and yogurt with a plastic spatula in two batches.
Add roselle flower and fold well.
Scoop mixture in cupcake liners and bake for about 30 minutes or skewer inserted in the center of the cake and comes out clean.

Hope you have a wonderful week ahead!