Blessed Homemaker

Hong Zao Mian Xian (红槽面线)

2012-02-01T16:54:00.004+08:00

Prior to knowing DH, I've never eaten any food cooked with red glutinuous wine (红槽). My first encounter with 红槽 was at my inlaws' place. It is a tradition for his family to eat 红槽面线 during birthdays. And being new in the family, although I do not like the taste of it, I was obliged to finish up the food. I could still recall that moment, it took me ages to finish up a small bowl of mee suah. Over the years, I grew accustomed to the taste and in fact, I'm loving it (only the wine, not the dregs though).

DH been bugging me to learn to cook this dish. I consulted MIL on recipe but as you know, most old folks cook without recipes. She merely taught me the steps and the rest is my own estimation.

Presently to you my very first 红槽面线

Still incomparable to MIL's cooking but DH and kids commented it is nice. Yes, now I can finally cook a Hockchew/Foochow dish ;-)

Hong Zao Mian Xian (红槽面线)
Serves 2A+3C

Ingredients (A)
17 - 20 drumlets (can use chicken thigh, drumsticks, wings or whole chicken)
3 tbsp red glutinous wine dregs (红槽) - I used wine instead of dregs
1 tbsp light soy sauce
1 tsp sesame oil
* Marinate together for at least 1 hour (my MIL did not marinate her chicken)

Ingredients (B)

2-3 shallots, peeled and roughly chopped (I double this as I like the flavor of shallots)

4 slices ginger, cut to thin strips

3-4 dried mushrooms, washed and soaked till soft (my MIL didn't add mushrooms)
500 - 750ml red glutinuous wine (红槽酒)
2 tbsp sesame oil
1.5 - 2 litre water

Method

Marinate chicken and set aside for at least an hour.
Slice mushroom into thin strips.
Heat up a pot with sesame oil. Add shallot and ginger, fry till soft and fragrant.
Add in chicken and mushrooms, fry till the chicken are slightly cooked.
Pour in 2 cups (approx. 500ml) red glutinuous wine and remaining marinade, if any. Mix till all parts of chicken are evenly coated.
Pour in sufficient water and bring to a boil, cook for another 10 mins.
Reduce heat and simmer for 1 hour. Add more wine if needed.
Season to taste (read notes below).

Preparing Mee Suah

Boil some water in a separate pot.
Add mee suah and loosen the strands with a pair of chopsticks. Cook for approximately 1 minute.
Drain mee suah and set in a bowl.
Arrange the cooked chicken and mushrooms on top of mee suah and ladle some soup over it.
You may also serve it with a poached egg.

Notes

If your mee suah is very salty, there is no need to add more seasonings into your soup.

Melt-in-mouth German Cookies

2012-01-31T10:36:00.002+08:00

This is already the 5th week of school and the kids are adapting well, no one cried :-)

To keep my story short, here's just a quick update of what I've baked, German Cookies! This is a very popular cookie in the cyberworld. If you've been following me, you'll know I'm not a cookie person. But since I've got a pack of near expiry potato starch, I didn't want to waste my ingredients so I made these.

Verdict: As per the title of this cookie, it truly melts in your mouth. I made a few other versions but didn't have time to upload the pictures yet.

Melt-in-mouth German Cookies 德式酥饼
Adapted from Small Small Baker

Ingredients
(makes ~ 60 pieces)
125g butter
40g icing sugar, sifted (I used 30g)
125g potato starch
80g superfine flour (I use plain flour, tried out both 50g and 80g, both good)

Method

Beat butter and icing sugar till fluffy and lighter in colour.
Sift in potato starch and flour, mix to form a soft dough.
Roll into small balls (about 2cm in diameter), arrange on lined baking pan and press lightly with a fork (dip the fork in water after each press to prevent cookie dough from sticking to the fork).
Bake in preheated oven at 170 deg C for 15 mins, upper rack (need not bake till cookies turn brown).

Fruit Cake II

2012-01-10T11:19:00.003+08:00

Alright, I know I'm slapping my own face. I mentioned in my earlier post I'm reluctant to try a recipe with eggs separation method. But here I am, my 2nd fruit cake using this method :P

My initial plan was to try out Aunty A's recipe but her instruction wasn't too precise as it was via sms and everything was simplified. She was away in Korea so I couldn't clarify my queries. I remembered Zu sharing her recipe in a parents' forum and decided to give it a try.

Her recipe originally calls for caster sugar but I prefer dark cakes, not for taste but simply aesthetic. I did some slight modification and replaced caster sugar with brown sugar and molasses. I do not know how the replacement of sugars will affect the texture of the cake, thus I did not do a 100% replacement. However, I'm not satisfied with the colour as I'll prefer it to be darker. I'll probably use all brown sugar and molasses next time.

Glad to see that the fruits are "floating" all over the cake and not sunken at the base. However, I dislike slicing a fruit cake as the fruits tend to fall off despite having it chilled.

Can you see the cracked line in the middle of the cake? The cake was too heavy (not the texture), definitely overloaded with fruits.

Again, another last min shopping for plastic wrappers and ribbons. The plastic wrappers left at the shop are for cookies/cupcakes so I just double clingwrap the cakes. There were also limited colours and sizes of ribbons. Just make do with sky blue and pink, which can be used for any other occassions.

Fruit Cake

Recipe adapted from Zu of Quick & Easy Treats, with slight modifications

Ingredients
800g mixed fruit, wash and strain overnight (coat the fruits with some flour)**
310g self-raising flour (I used all purpose flour + baking powder + baking soda)
250g butter, softened
100g castor sugar (originally calls for 230g caster sugar but I replaced some with brown sugar and molasses)
100g brown sugar
30g molasses
6 eggs, separated
1tsp vanilla essence (I omit)
1/2 tsp salt

** I used 700g dried fruits
** I soaked the fruits in water to plump them up and strain for 2 hours instead of overnight.
** If you want to soak it with liquor, you can also do so over a few days.
** I used about 4 tbsp flour to coat the dried fruits.

Method

Mix all sugar in a small bowl
Cream butter and half of the sugar till creamy and fluffy
Add egg yolks, one at a time till the mixture is well blended (the mixture will not curdled if it is sufficiently mixed)
Add flour and salt, mix it well followed by the mixed fruits
In another clean bowl, beat egg whites and the other half of the sugar till stiff (don't over beat it till dry).
Add into the butter+fruit mixture till well mixed (you will need a very BIG mixing bowl)
Pour batter into3- 4 mini loaf pans (3"X6"), bake in a preheated 140C oven for 1 hour 20 mins or until a skewer stuck in the middle comes out clean.

Alcohol-Free Orange Fruit Cake

2011-12-23T09:58:00.001+08:00

I'm not a fan of fruit cakes until Aunty A gave me her bakes. I don't like fruit cake because I find it too sweet to my liking and the texture is dense and heavy. Aunty A's cake made me change my opinion as her cake is soft and moist. When she gave me the recipe, I knew I wouldn't bother to try out as it requires egg separation. I dislike complicated method, always on the look out for a quick and easy recipe. I couldn't find any and have been requesting Aunty A to bake and keep some for me :P

Never thought I'll ever attempt to bake this cake until I saw Wendy's recipe here. No eggs separation, no mixer needed. Bingo! This is it!

I don't like candied peels but I was running low on stock for cranberries and currants at home. Paid a visit to the nearest baking shop but was disappointed as some of our favourite dried fruits were out of stock. I couldn't wait and refuse to procrastinate further, so I just grabbed a pack of 1kg dried mixed fruits and mixed in some cranberries and currants.

My kids could't wait too so we ate this on the same day it was baked. Not too bad but I wasn't very impressed. I gave some to Sis E and reminded her to eat it a week later. She cured the cake with liquor (I don't know what she used) for 6 days and brought it to my Dad's birthday celebration. All tasters gave thumbs up. Unfortunately I couldn't make any comparison because I didn't eat it (alcohol content). Mom requested me to bake this for CNY so I suppose it must be good.

I didn't do justice to this as it was a night shot under warm-white lighting. Still an amateur in photography :P

If you have seen Wendy's pictures, I'm sure you wouldn't disagree that glace cherries definitely make the cake look more appealing. But the small tub of red cherries were sold out too. Lesson learnt, do not attempt last min baking during festive seasons.

Alcohol Free Orange Fruit Cake

Adapted from Wendy of Table for 2

Ingredients

450gm dried mixed fruits

200ml orange juice
2 heaped Tbsp orange zest (I omit as my son doesn't like)
250gm butter
150gm sugar
225 gm all purpose flour
4 large eggs

Method

Macerate all the fruits and zest with orange juice, overnight preferably. I macerated the fruits for only 1 hour.
Cream butter and sugar until light and fluffy.
Beat in eggs, one by one, beating well after each addition.
Mix in flour until well combined.
Fold in macerated fruits and whatever juice that is remaining.
Place batter into 7X7" lined/greased pan.
Bake in a preheated oven at 140C for 1 hour 20 mins or until a skewer stuck in the middle comes out clean.

Sweet Watercress with Luo Han Guo Drink

2011-12-19T20:17:00.000+08:00

Pardon my disappearance as I was away on a last minute trip to Perak, Malaysia. It was so last minute that I wasn't able to book any hotel accommodation and had to stay with a relative.

The furthest we've traveled on a road trip to Malaysia was to Genting. I didn't expect myself to agree to this road trip, which took us almost 8 hours from Tuas custom to Kampung Koh, Perak. And we had 7 pax in a 6 seater car. I remember very clearly DH requesting a road trip back to his parents hometown last year but I refused to compromise because the kids must be buckled up, thus having 7 pax is out of the question. So how and why on earth did I agree to this? Beats me... Anyway, we didn't compromise on kids' safety as DD1 and DS2 squeezed onto one seat and buckled up too :-)

There is basically nothing much where we were, Kampung Koh, Sitiawan, Lumut, Pangkor and Pantai Remis. BUT, it was a fruitful trip. My urban kids had the chance to experience life @ kampung. Having no toys but to self entertain with whatever natural things they could find (mainly seashells and rubber seeds). With so many relatives there, we had the chance to visit their plantations and bird house. It was truly an eye opening experience for all of us.

I'll blog more about our road trip when I have more time, there's so much to show and tell. I love Perak!

Back to food stuff. This looks like some bitter herbal drink but it isn't. If you've been following me, you might have seen my Watercress with Luo Han Guo Soup. But instead of cooking the savoury version, I sweetned it with rock sugar and it is another hit in my family.

It's a no-brainer recipe, just dump everything into a pot and boil.

If you like, you may add some agar agar powder/jelly powder and turn them into jellies ;-)

Sweet Watercress and Luo Han Guo Drink

Ingredients
500g watercress
1 Luo Han Guo (羅漢果, 罗汉果), smash the outer shell
2.5 - 3 litres water
2 - 3 dried honey dates (蜜枣)
rock sugar to taste (I used honey rock sugar)

Method

Wash watercress and cut into half. Rinse honey dates.
Rinse Luo Han Guo and smash the outer shell.
Add watercress, honey dates and Luo Han Guo in a pot with 2.5 - 3 litres of water. Bring to boil. Reduce to small flame and simmer for 1 hour.
Add rock sugar to taste.
Sieve and serve, either warm or chilled.

Fried Shallot Oil (葱头油) - Microwave Version

2011-12-05T10:27:00.004+08:00

Shallot oil (葱头油) is commonly used in Chinese cooking. My Mom cooks this in her wok and each time she makes this, it is easily over a kg. Imagine the peeling and slicing! She makes bottles after bottles to give her children, and I'm definitley one lucky child. I didn't know it was such a tedious chore until I try to DIY at home. Slicing of the shallot makes me tear like nobody's business. I googled to find some tear-free methods/tips and these are what I've gathered:

Place the shallots in the fridge or freezer for 30 minutes before chopping
Peel the shallots under running water
Use a wet chopping board and a sharp knife.

I've tried the 2 latter methods but they DON'T work. Yet to try keeping them in the fridge though.

To prevent burning the shallot, stop cooking when the shallots turn slightly golden brown. They were then left to stand for about 1 - 2 mins to cook on its own.

Do not discard the oil used to fry the shallot. You can use the oil for cooking (stir fry veggie or fried rice or anything you can think of) or use it to fragrant a dish (congee/noodle soup).

Or simply drizze over some blanch vegetables with oyster sauce, yum!

I like to slice them thicker because we (mainly the kids) eat it like a snack. We like to bite into it to feel the crisp ;-)

Fried Shallot Oil (葱头油)
Ingredients
15 - 20 Shallot/small onions
Cooking Oil (I use sunflower/corn oil)

Method

Peel the outer skin of the shallots and sliced it thinly.
Put the sliced shallot in a microwaveable bowl.
Add enough oil to cover the shallot.
Cook on High for 4 - 5 minutes. Give it a stir and continue to cook for another 2 mins. Reduce to Medium Low and cook for a further 2 - 3 mins, stirring in between.
Stop when the shallot turns slightly golden in colour. Do not cook till brown as the hot oil will continue to cook the shallot, resulting in very dark/burnt shallot.
Let it stand for 1 - 2 mins to allow it to cook further and carefully remove the bowl from microwave.
Drain fried shallot and leave to cool completely (do not leave them soaking in the oil as the shallot will turn soft). Store in glass container and keep it in the fridge. Do the same for the shallot oil.

**Note**

Cooking time depends on your microwave and the amount of shallots used. I'm using Sharp R888.

Bangkok Kaya Cake

2011-11-30T23:47:00.006+08:00

After a good break to Taiwan, I'm back to face reality. We were on a Free & Easy holiday, that means alot of prep work to be done, from booking of plane tickets, itinerary and accommodation. And just a week before our departure, DD1 developed a high fever of 40.4C. With her fever, I kept her home and she had to miss 2 papers of her final year examinations. I just couldn't take any risk since she wasn't in a good state of mind to take her exam, might as well keep her home. However, I was taking another risk, worried that she might not end up in the top class since her final year exam results will be computed based on her mid-year exam. The first thing I reached Singapore was to text the teacher to find out her results :P I'm thankful she maintained her standard and will be going to the better class next year, but on the other hand, I fear she might not be able to catch up in the "elite" class. Being a dawdler, she needs to put in more effort to improve her attitude in learning. I can only wish for the best.

I'm thankful to my dearest friend, DO, who joined us in this trip. She is my best travel companion. Our very first trip was to the USA, and that very trip has proven that both of us can travel together. It is not easy to find a compatible travel companion. DO is not calculative and easy-going, especially not fussy on meals. She has joined me in a few other trips to ANZ, including my honeymoon. Yes, you've heard it correctly, honeymoon. Prior to my wedding, she has joined me on a few occassions to visit DH in Australia. And the interesting thing is, DH and her behaves more like a couple. I couldn't cook then, so with her presence, she became our chef. As most shops are closed at 5pm in Australia, we usually prepare our own dinner in the rented service apartment. At the supermarket for grocery shopping, DH and her walked 2 - 3 metres ahead of me, discussing what to buy for dinner, what dessert, drinks and snacks. Me? Pushing the trolley behind them, like a typcal maid hahaha!!!

Due to our holidays, we had to celebrate my Mom's birthday earlier. I thought I was prepared but I was wrong. With the trip co-ordination and DD unwell, I was not in a good condition and took things for granted, thinking that my pantry had all the stuff I need.

My last frosted cake was back in April, I made a Nutella Chocolate Cake for DH's birthday. Thereafter, all other birthday cakes were either ice cream cake or jelly cake. Again, for Mom's birthday, there was no intention to make a frosted cake.

A friend told me about Bangkok Kaya Cake, I thought this cake was from Thailand but I was wrong. I think it originated from Malaysia. It is basically a sponge cake layer, plus a layer of coconut agar agar (kaya) and a 3rd layer of coffee agar agar. Anyway, I was given this recipe but just didn't have the opportunity to make it. And with Mom's birthday in mind, this is it!

I'm a sucker for chiffon cake so again, I used my regular chiffon cake recipe for the cake base. Was planning to make a pandan chiffon cake, followed by a white layer of kaya, then the coffee layer. But I realised I was left with only 2 packets of skim coconut milk amounting to 500ml, and this was barely enough for the kaya layer. There goes my pandan cake... change to Plan B, use milk instead of coconut. But I have nil milk at home too! It was 4pm the day before celebration and there was no time for last min shopping as I had to prepare dinner. Left with no other options, I just had to make do with water.

Preparation was relatively easy, bake the cake, set aside to cool while preparing the coffee layer. While the coffee layer is left to set, prepare the kaya layer and finally place the cake layer on top, chill in fridge and job completed.

It was getting late so I couldn't be bothered to slice the cake to desired thickness. Insufficient ingredients left me with a thin kaya layer, but what the heck. Most importantly, it was well received at the celebration.

I've not tasted an authentic Bangkok Kaya Cake so I can't comment if this is like the real thing. What I can say is, my nieces and nephews asked for subsequent serving and SIL DL asked to pack the balance home :-)

Recipe later...

Lotus Roots with Cranberry Beans Soup

2011-11-04T08:48:00.001+08:00

I'm a person who don't like confrontation. But if need be, I'll do it protect myself and/or my family.

Of late, I've been getting nasty comments in my blog. I might have stepped onto someone's toes ever since I blogged about the life of a SAHM. I have received a few not too polite comments in my blog. Besides blog, there was also some unpleasant instant messaging exchange with a friend. To quote in general, the comments were "not everyone is interested to know the life of a sahm or to put themselves in my position". Yes, I can fully understand and accept this fact. But these people forgotten that this is MY BLOG. If you don't like reading my posting, a simple solution is, don't visit me. And to think that such similar remark came from a close friend, I felt disheartened. No, I'm not angry with her, but just didn't expect something like this to come from her. Anyway, life goes on and I still value her as a friend.

So, what's cooking? This is a frequent question that pops up in my msn/skype. I wonder what's my cooking got to do with you? I'm not inviting you over for dinner so why ask for the sake of asking? Hmm...

Anyway, just to share one of my favourite soup, Lotus Roots with Cranberry Beans Soup. I love the nutty taste of cranberry beans. I don't cook with peanuts for children under 5 years of age so I replaced peanuts with cranberry beans and I think the soup taste equally good too! Alright, confession time, I didn't create this soup, I learnt it from Sis C.

Look how beautiful these gems are! And they taste great too! (my kids don't like the cranberry beans though they don't mind drinking the soup).

My little helpers at work (this pic was taken in Aug 2009, DD3 was 1.5 years old then). I like to get them involved in the preparation to make them feel useful :-)

Lotus Roots with Cranberry Beans Soup

Ingredients

300g pork ribs

1 large or 2 medium section of lotus roots, remove skin and cut into slices/chucks

250g - 300g cranberry beans/shell beans, shells removed

10 - 15 pitted red dates

5 dried scallops (optional)
1 dried cuttlefish (optional)
1.5 - 2 litres water
Salt to taste

Method

Blanch pork ribs with boiling water.
In a pot, bring 1.5 litre water to boil and add all ingredients (except cranberry beans). Using medium fire, bring water to boil again and cook for 10 - 15 minutes, reduce to small flame and simmer for 2 hours.
Add in cranberry beans and let it cook for another 30 mins - 1 hour.
Add salt to taste before serving.

Marshmallow Jelly Cake

2011-10-24T10:05:00.000+08:00

I've not baked a layered birthday cake for a long time. The last I made was back in April, for my birthday (oops, not posted yet :P). 2 months ago, we celebrated DS2's 6th birthday. Feeling lazy, I decided to just make him a jelly cake. When it comes to jelly, my children will never say no.

This recipe was shared by Baking Mum back in 2006. With no baking experience then, this recipe caught my attention immediately and I've made it on several occassions. I've not made this in recent years but with a pack of marshmallow (intended for fondant making) that was sitting on the shelf for the longest time, a wise decision was made to clear it off.

If I were to make this for DD3, her choice of fruit will be strawberry. For DS2, he loves pineapples so the answer is obvious. With only raspberry and strawberry jello at home, I was praying really hard that my trip to the local supermarket wouldn't be a wasted trip. Thankfully not many people appreciate pineapple flavour jello hahaha...

With my previous attempt on jelly cake, I didn't wait long enough for the filling to set and ended up with a messy looking cake. So with this cake, I told myself to be patient and waited for 3 hours before pouring in the jello. I've not been lucky with jelly cakes but I did better this time round. Not too messy and only 1 pineapple floated up. There's still room for improvement ;-)

Got the girls to help prepare the cake for their dearest brother. They were busy rolling away the biscuits with my rolling pins. DD3 tried all methods and finally decided that hitting the biscuit is the easiest.

Looking at the recipe, preparation of this cake is relatively easy. Aunty A taught me to arrange the fruits on the fillings before chilling to prevent the fruits from floating into the jello layer.

Although I've made this a few times, I made a big blunder. I didn't melt the marshmallow completely as it seem to take forever to melt! I cooked it over the stove, stood there for almost 30 mins, stirring constantly to prevent burning. But time is running out as I need to prepare dinner. Seeing that 70% has melted, I turned off the fire and went on to prepare the cake. Now that explains why the filling looks lumpy. Maybe I'll cut the marshmallow smaller before I melt it? Or melt it over double-boiler?

Since my kids love jelly, I doubled the recipe for the jelly layer and used up a pack of jello instead of 1/2.

Not the best looking cake but my kids are happy. Definitely going to make this again.

Marshmallow Jelly Cake

Ingredients
Base
200g digestive biscuits
80g melted butter

Marshmallow filling
150g marshmallow
280ml UHT/full cream milk
200ml dairy whipping cream
2 tsp gelatin + 20ml milk

Jello topping
1 packet of pineapple Jello
400 ml of water
4 tsp of gelatin

Method

Crushed digestive biscuits and mix well with melted butter. Press into a 8” tin. Arrange some cut pineapples on the biscuit base. Refrigerate for later use.
Bloom gelatin with 20ml milk, let it stand for 5 - 10 mins.
Put ingredients for marshmallow fillings (including gelatin/milk mixture) into a pot. Boil over small fire until marshmallow are melted.
Cool marshmallow filling slightly and pour into the prepared baking tin with biscuit base.
Arrange cut pineapples on top and chill in fridge for 3 hours until slightly harden.
In the mean time, boil jello ingredients until dissolved. Leave to cool slightly.
Remove cake from fridge and pour the slightly cool or cool Jello on it. Return to fridge to chill.
Cut into small pieces to serve.

Tampines Eco Green - Part I

2011-10-20T22:41:00.001+08:00

Some months ago, we read about this new park, Tampines Eco Green, on our daily newspaper and I decided that we should bring our kids there one day.

View from across the road.

Address: Junction of Tampines Avenue 9 and Tampines Avenue 12

An introduction to Tampines Eco Green.

Entrance to the park

The DOs and DON'Ts but not many abide to it as we saw a few visitors walking their dogs in the park.

This park uses recycled materials in its benches, signboards and bird hides.

Within a few minutes walk from the entrance, we saw a group of photographers , waiting patiently to capture their best shot. We were trying to peep but couldn't as we didn't want to obstruct the photographers. Seeing I have 3 curious kids, a kind man passed me a branch with two little creatures on it.

The attraction? Rhinoceros beetles!! This is an eye-opener for me as I've never since one like this before. According to the man, male rhino beetles have horns, the females don't.

Here's the female rhino beetle.

Photographers busy at work (the man on the right was the kind man I mentioned).

It is easy to spot butterflies and dragonflies in this park!

More signboards in the park

Lovely flowers in the park, don't ask me what they are, I don't know.

DD3 got tired after walking and requested to be carried.

DS2 and DD3 behind a Bird Hide, trying to spot some birds but none in sight.

Daddy spotted a butterfly and was explaining to DD3 how butterflies feed themselves.

I like how they make use of the recycled materials to make directional signboards in the park.

DD3's sandal was slightly big and it dropped off when she was trying to catch up with her siblings.

Then she decided she should just walk barefoot and leave her sandals behind :-|

I don't own a DSLR but I'm happy my Canon IXUS95 is able to capture some nice shots. Not too bad for a dummy camera ;-)

PS: I just bought my DSLR at the beginning of this month!! Yippy!

Castella Cake/Kasutera

2011-10-15T20:28:00.001+08:00

I must thank all my readers for leaving a comment here. And I'm glad some of you broke your silence just to share your personal experiences.

I am doing fine, so please don't worry about me. The reason I published the SAHM post is simply because sahms are often misunderstood by many. With my personal experience sharing, I hope to give working people an insight of the life of a sahm. We might seem like we have lots of time, with no reports to run, no meetings to attend, and no deadlines to meet. But we have our own commitments too. I'm not upset over my friend's remark, just irritated. I just want to remind her that life as a sahm is not what she thinks. She is fortunate to have her parents taking care of her kids, and at anytime she needs to go on a date with her hubby, her parents are always there for her. To me, I don't care a damn about how she lives her life and how blessed she is. I just live mine the way I choose it, with or without support from relatives. I've come so far all by myself, and I don't get demoralise with her remarks. So, yes, I'm feeling good and definitely not going to get miserable over this :-)

Back to some "serious" postings. This Castella Cake was a hit back in 2009. I've always wanted to try baking it but I've read and understand that this is a very delicate cake. Being a beginner in baking, I procrastinated and finally found my guts to make it last Dec.

The texture is soft and light, however I wasn't able to achieve the "poreless" effect despite using low power on the mixer.

Not too well done on the skin too, the "pores" were too obvious.

Feeling adventurous, I made another batch using brown sugar. Nice! But again, still couldn't achieve the nice appearance. Nevertheless, they tasted great and my kids love it.

Castella Cake (Japanese Honey Spongecake)

Recipe adapted from Baking Mum

Method adapted from Just Hungry with slight modifications

Ingredients
5 large eggs
170g granulated sugar (I reduced to 140g)
200g plain flour, sifted twice
1 tsp. vanilla extract (I omit)
100ml milk, at room temperature
4 tablespoons honey
6 tablespoons canola oil

Method

Cut the parchment paper so that it's large enough to fit the bottom and sides of the cake pan with a little excess. Fold it in until it completely covers the bottom and sides, leaving a it hanging over. (To make it stick to the pan, smear a little butter or shortening on the pan first.) Sprinkle a little sugar over the bottom, on top of the paper.
Fill a pot with water and bring to a boil, then turn off the heat.
Heat up milk, add honey and mix well. Set aside for later use.
Break the eggs into a big mixing bowl and whisk on lowest setting on your mixer. Add the sugar gradually. Start whisking this while holding the bowl over the pan of hot water. As soon as the mixture feels lukewarm to the touch, take it off the water and continue whisking. If it cools down again, put it back on the hot water pan to warm it up. Beat till ribbon stage (pale and extremely thick, you should be able to write your initials on the surface of the batter with your whisk, and they should stay there for a few seconds before it disappears)
Add the flour in 3 - 4 batches and mix till there are no pockets of flour. Next add the milk/honey mixture, beat it well. Last, add the oil and make sure it is incorporated into the batter thoroughly (I used Baking Mum's method in this step).
Pour the batter into the prepared pan. Bake in preheated oven of 170C for 10 mins, reduce heat to 150C and bake for another 35 mins or until a skewer stuck in the middle comes out clean.
In the meantime, mix together the 1 tablespoon of honey and a little hot water, to make a glaze. As soon as the cake is out of the oven, brush the top with the honey-water mixture.
When the cake is cool enough to handle but still warm, lift it out of the pan, paper and all, and put into a plastic bag. Seal the bag and put into the refrigerator, for at least several hours. This step is critical to ensure the kasutera has a moist texture. If you let it cool to room temperature before putting it in the plastic bag, it will end up a bit dry.
To serve, use a very sharp knife to make clean cuts.

Simple Milo Cake

2011-10-11T13:30:00.000+08:00

I saw this really simple recipe and with a tin of Milo left untouched, baking this is a must. Some forumers tried and said the taste was mild and made suggestions to add cocoa powder in addition to Milo. I added cocoa powder and used chocolate milk.

Topped with some cocoa powder and chocolate chips, hoping to make the cake more flavourful.

Soft and moist but slightly chewy texture. My kids love it and I hope you will too :-)

Simple Milo Cake

Recipe seen here, adapted from here

Ingredients

1 Cup Self raising flour

1 cup sugar
1 tsp vanilla extract (I omit)
3 tbsp sunflower oil
3 tbsp milo powder
1 tbsp cocoa powder
1/2 cup chocolate milk
2 eggs

Method

Beat all ingredients together till well mixed.
Pour batter into 7" x 7" pan (lined with parchment paper) and bake at pre-heated oven of 180 degrees Celsius for 30mins or till skewer comes out clean.

SAHMs = Tai Tai (太太)?

2011-10-07T11:47:00.002+08:00

This was first drafted back in February 2010. Yes, that is 1 year 10 months ago. Being lengthy, it took me a long time to organise my thoughts and when things got busier, I totally forgotten about this until I saw HHB's posting here. What's past is past so I was hesitant if I should post this. I mean, I tend to take things easier now, not as easily agitated as before.

With my recent encounter with a working mom who is also a weekend mom, I've decided to go ahead with my posting. I hope that through my sharing, working class people will know the life of a SAHM (stay-at-home-moms), typically those with no extra pair of hands.

We do not wish to be taken for granted, neither do we like to hear sarcastic criticism, especially from people who know us. Being a homemaker is no easy feat, so please give us your support and encouragement. Although we are not directly contributing to the society, we are contributing at home so that our offsprings will be able to contribute to the society when they grow up.

So please bear with me as this is definitely a lengthy post.

And I just updated this in my FB
"You need to BEEN THERE DONE THAT to understand the predicaments that SAHMs are going through, else shut your trap as no comments are appreciated."

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Thoughts dated: Feb 2010 - Feb 2011
Put yourself in these situations:

Your two year old toddler is awake and she asks to be nursed. You have another school going child to attend to.

You are almost late for school but the kids are playing and took forever to finish their breakfast. After shower and all dressed up ready for school, while waiting for the lift at the lift lobby, one child needs to poo.

The dog is paper-trained but it is advisable to walk the dog at least twice daily as the nature of your dog is hyperactive. Again, when you're all ready, your two year old toddler poops or refuses to walk the dog simply because she is very sleepy/cranky and wanted to take her nap.

A visit to the local supermarket for grocery shopping with a two year old in tow. The cleaner with the cleaning machine approaches, creating a noise louder than a vacuum cleaner. She freezes and refuses to walk until the machine is out of her sight and hearing. Else she wants to be carried as she's afraid, and when she's in your arms, she clings on like a koala, without any moment of relaxation. You have a full load of items in your shopping basket.

At the supermarket: your two year old is happily walking around helping you pick up fruits and vegetables. A good educational trip but you have to ensure she doesn't drop the perishables, nor poke her fingers into cling-wrapped food, and be certain there are no extra food in your shopping cart.

You are at the supermarket and just when you finish making a payment, you child tells you she needs to go to the loo. You have a trolley full of paid merchandise.

It is time to prepare lunch but your toddler needs a nap . After putting her to bed, you are on 5th gear mode and work doubly fast to be on time to pick your son from school. When it's time to fetch your son, your toddler is still napping. You had to either carry the toddler up, praying that she continues to sleep or wake her up. A cranky child awakes.

When your son returns from school, you are in the kitchen serving their lunch. The 2 kids are left to play by themselves. Peace. Suddenly a child wails. With your hands full of lather (or perhaps cleaning up the fish that you are planning to steam), she clings onto your thigh and wants to be carried. Your dishes are half-done, meals uncooked.

Food is served. Kids enjoying their food while you wash up the dishes in the kitchen. You heard giggles and laughters, next comes the squabbles follows by a dropping bowl/spoon. You walk towards the children to receive your welcome gifts.

Your eldest child is back from school. On most days, she stays back for lunch in school. She has 1 - 2 hours to complete her school work and learn her spelling (both English and Mother Tongue). Your toddler is asking for her nap again. When she naps, it's time to prepare dinner. When she wakes up, it's time for their 30 minutes (minimal) outdoor activities. Back from outdoor play, dinner after shower.

Your mobile phone rings. You receive a call from your eldest child school. Your child is either sick or there is no school bus for that day. You have to lug 2 young children to your eldest child's school. Worse if your toddler is taking her nap and you have to wake her up, cranky. It is a mere 10 - 15 mins walk but with 2 shorter legs, it takes 20 - 25 mins. Sometimes you tend to walk faster as you are hurrying, the poor kids have to run after you, panting. Late dinner.

Fruits after dinner is a routine. While kids are having their dinner, you wash up the dishes and the stove. After brushing their teeth and sending them to bed, you take your 3rd shower of the day. Then it's time to do the laundry. By the time you are done with laundry, it is past midnight.

Sweeping and mopping the floor is a daily affair. You allow the kids to mess up during play but when they are done, they need to pack up. Reminders given but no action taken. House is constantly is in mess. Remedy, you help them to pack but the toys don't go back into the toy basket, they go into hibernation ie storeroom.

Your husband is on an overseas trip again but you have forgotten to think/miss him. Totally completely exhausted by the end of the day.

You sleep 4 - 6 hours daily.

Your hair needs regular trimming (3 - 4 weeks) to maintain the style but to go to the hair salon, you need to lug either 1, 2 or 3 kids. You end up visiting the hair salon every 4 - 5 months, and that is already a bonus.

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Thoughts dated: Jun 2011

I'm not saying I'm a capable woman, neither am I a superwoman. I am in this situation because I am a SAHM. I'm left with no other options but since I'm one, I am trying my utmost best to be a good mother and a good wife.

As far as I'm concern, it is infuriating how people label SAHMs as 太太 (pronounced as tai tai) or "free" ie nothing better to do. I get loads of such comments from friends/acquittances/relatives. Just a couple of months ago, I was sharing with a relative that DD1 had been eating gingerbread man, pancakes, mantou as meals in school. She commented since I'm a SAHM, I should deliver homecooked lunch to school. If she is a SAHM, she will definitely deliver meals to her children. Blah blah blah.... Me being me, I rebuked and shut her off.

I'm sure every parent wants to provide the best for their children. But if you are in a least favourable position, do you have the luxury to do that? If you are not, you will have to seek the next best alternative. For me, it will be educating DD1 that eating these on a daily basis may deprive her nutrient intake. I cannot be sure if she listens but that is the best I can do, at least for now.

Although we have no nasty bosses, no reports submission, no lengthy meetings, no irritating colleagues, we still have our own deadlines. SAHMs has no annual leaves, no off paid leaves, no medical leaves. We do not have time to skive in our job, not to mention there is no proper lunch break. I remember I used to go for coffee breaks with my fellow colleagues, including my boss. Or gossiping about the latest artiste/celebrity at colleagues' workstation/cubicle, etc...

Of course, if you are talking about a SAHM who doesn't need to do marketing and cooking (these 2 are the main killer!), it is an entirely different story. Even for a SAHM with a domestic helper/staying with parents/inlaws, I'm sure they are busy in other ways. Some homemakers are busy chauffeuring their kids around, and this is definitely time-consuming. And for some, they spend time on coaching and that is very draining too.

Finally, for those who know me in person, I know you are reading my blog. I'm telling you this for the last time. I'm offended, annoyed, irritated if you've labelled me as a 太太. Don't start a conversation for the sake of having one. Like what I've been telling my kids, if you have nothing nice to say, please keep your comments to yourself. But of course, if you can do what I do and still have excess time for shopping or whatsoever gatherings, I'm giving you the entire right to label me as one. Call me petty, I don't care. Period.

Kuih Kosui

2011-10-06T10:34:00.001+08:00

Kuih Kosui or Kueh Kosui, how you spell it, they are the same. Many left me comments in my earlier post, asking for the recipe but I was lazy to type out the recipe as it was scribbled onto a piece of A5 paper.

Thanks to Aspiring Bakers, I am finally able to post the recipe now. Found my old photographs from the harddisk and went to dig out the recipe from a pile papers with handwritten recipes.

I love Kuih Kosui but there are some that leaves an aftertaste. I attribute that to an overdosage of alkaline water (lye water). Having tried out a few recipes, this is still the best as it can be eaten fresh from the fridge, no thawing needed. What's more, no alkaline water used!

This is good, really good. If you trust me, give it a try and let me know how this turns out for you. I gave some to SM and she texted me immediately when she popped one into her mouth, while driving! Her mom loves it too :-) She reminded me to pass her more if I were to make this again hahaha!

I'm submitting this to Aspiring Bakers #12: Traditional Kueh (October 2011) hosted by SSB of Small Small Baker.

Kueh Kosui

Recipe: Courtesy of Aunty A

Ingredients

(A)

250g Gula Melaka

600g Water

some pandan leaves

(B)

50g mee suah

300g water

(C)

250g Tapioca Flour

(D)

Grated coconut, steam with pinch of salt and let it cool before using

Method

Put A into a pot and bring to boil. Stir till sugar melts. Leave to cool.
Put B into a separate pot to cook, bring to boil. Leave to cool and blend to paste.
Mix tapioca flour with cold gula melaka mixture and stir well.
Add mee suah paste to gula melaka mixture, stir and mix well.
Steam empty pan for 5 mins. Pour mixture into pan and steam for another 45 - 50 mins.
Set aside to cool to room temperature and cut into small pieces.
Coat with fresh grated coconut and serve (I prefer to chill mine and eat it cold)

Nutella Oatmeal Chocolate Chips Cookies

2011-10-05T16:26:00.002+08:00

It is a chore talking to some people who do not know the predicaments you are in and yet act smart by giving all sorts of ideas/suggestions. I thank you for your suggestions but I'll appreciate if you could just shut your trap. Best appreciated if you could lend a listening ear, that's all I'm asking for. I am a SAHM, you are not. You have a helper, I don't. So, we are in totally different situations. Don't use your experience on mine, it doesn't work that way.

Alright, enough of my rantings. 2 more days to Children's Day and DD1 asked if I could bake some chocolate chips cookies for her to bring to school for their class party. I wasn't sure as she has a few Muslim friends. I explained to her, hoping that she can understand the difference between Halal and Non-Halal food. Anyway, I promised her I'll do it for her, since she asked but just to warn her Muslim friends that these cookies are non-Halal.

With a big bottle of Nutella sitting in my fridge waiting to be expired, I googled for some cookie recipes and saw one by The Nesting Project. Looks like a simple recipe so I went ahead with it but reduced sugar by a fraction. While creaming the butter and sugars, I felt that the sugars seemed too much, what's more with the addition of Nutella. So, with the mixed sugars, I removed 40g of it and they went into the bin. I did a check on one of my oatmeal cookie and realised that the ingredients used are quite similar, but the sugar used were only 100g (I don't have sweet tooth). Faint! For this recipe I added 175g, removed 40g, total usage 135g. Fingers crossed.

The final cookie tasted sweet, too sweet to my liking but my kids love it. DD1 just couldn't stop eating!

I hope the children in school will enjoy them as much as DD1.

Nutella Oatmeal Chocolate Chips Cookies

Recipe halved, makes 50 X 5cm cookies

Ingredients

110g unsalted butter
100g light brown sugar} mixed together and removed 40g from it
70g caster sugar } next time can just omit caster sugar
35g nutella
1 large egg
110g all purpose flour
1/2 tsp vanilla extract (I omit)
130g rolled oats
100g chocolate chips

Method

Preheat oven to 180 degrees C.
Cream together the softened butter, brown sugar and white sugar until smooth and creamy.
Add nutella, then the egg and beat well (if you are making full recipe, add egg one at a time).
Add in vanilla and mix well.
Add flour in 3 - 4 addition and beat until incorporated.
Stir in the rolled oats and chocolate chips by hand using a wooden spoon.
Using a cookie scoop, drop cookie dough onto the prepared baking tray.
Flatten the cookies slightly and bake the cookies for about 15 - 20 minutes
Remove from oven and let the cookies cool a few minutes on the baking sheet before transferring them to a wire rack to finish cooling.

Missing naps....

2011-09-27T11:34:00.001+08:00

I know I shouldn't be neglecting this blog of mine but I've been busy and feeling lazy. My apologies to all whom have left me a note in the comment box. I'll try to find time to reply soonest.

Remember I said DD3 is skipping her nap? I was washing up in the kitchen and when I returned to check on DD3, I saw this!

Initially I thought she was just feeling restless and was just resting.

Her favourite Kong Bak Pau but she was too tired to finish it up.

Can you see the pau in her mouth? It was only 6.30pm... Woke her up to finish her dinner and sent her to bed at 8pm.

2011 Snowskin Mooncakes

2011-09-15T11:11:00.000+08:00

DD3 started missing her nap a few weeks ago. I decided it is time to drop her pm nap because when she does nap, she doesn't fall asleep easily at night. I'll rather keep her awake in the day and let her sleep early when night falls.

With 3 children constantly yakking behind my back, I literally cannot do much baking. Thankfully most birthdays are over and the next celebration will be in Nov. I still have some time to continue taking my breather. But I promised Mom I'll make her mooncakes again this year. So besides the baked mooncakes, I made snow skin mooncakes too.

DH likes matcha mooncakes so I made him these. Although the paste is low sugar, we still find it way too sweet to our liking. And the colour is so fake. Unlike the ones I made last year, I love that colour. Yes, I used artificial colour paste this year as my matcha has not arrived.

Again, I added some colours to this as I recall SL telling me it is inauspicious giving away white mooncakes.

I'm submitting this post to Aspiring Bakers #11 for September 2011 by Happy Home Baking.

Recipe can be found here.

2011 Baked Mooncakes

2011-09-14T23:01:00.000+08:00

I've recovered from my urticaria and eczema! However, I been busy with my year end holiday planning, thus leaving me with not much time to blog :P To keep the story short, just to share what I've made for Mid-Autumn Festival.

There are many new mould designs in the market. I'm so tempted to add them to my collection but I really have insufficient storage space. So it's the same old design that I have.

Last year I saw Anncoo made these but it was too late for me to try it out. This year, I made an effort to do it. Ann made big piggies (50g skin 70g paste), I made mini piglets (20g each). Alright, I know I didn't do a good job, but at least I've tried my best in this attempt. Made 11 piglets within an hour and it was almost time to cook dinner. With balance 7 portion of dough, I used my mooncake moulds to complete the job.

As usual, I didn't eggwash the moonies, just left it as it is.

Oh... my ugly looking tail :P I personally think this is the most difficult part.

Recipe here. Do note that I've only let the dough stand for 20 minutes instead.

I'm submitting this to Aspiring Bakers #11 for September 2011 by Happy Home Baking

Swiss Roll Ice Cream Cake

2011-07-25T10:49:00.000+08:00

I'm suffering from a bad eczema attack and don't much feel like baking. The itch is killing me despite taking antihistamine pills and applying steriod cream (which I hated). But I always console myself that this is nothing as compared to cancer patients who need to go through chemotherapy. I'm sure they suffer more than me so I'm not complaining about my own condition.

We celebrated DD1's 9th birthday yesterday. After googling on the internet for the past week, I decided on a swiss roll ice cream cake (I got the idea from Daring Bakers Challenge, July 2010) . Reason being, I won't have time to bake and frost a cake over the weekend, so the easiest way is to buy ice cream from the stores and cover it up with swiss rolls.

It seemed simple, so much so that I took it for granted and didn't start baking the cake until 11pm on Saturday night. It was a big mistake. The swiss roll needs to be chilled before slicing, and the ice cream needs to be frozen layer by layer. I was literally rushing through the whole process and only slept at 2am, with the cake only 75% completed.

The layers should go this way:- 1. swiss roll, 2. raspberry ice cream, 3. chocolate fudge and 4. chocolate chips ice cream. I only managed to cook the fudge at the wee hours while waiting for the raspberry ice cream to harden. Was rushing through to cool the fudge down in order to pour it into the prepared pan so I could catch up with my beauty sleep. Everything looked perfect until I saw the cake the next morning. What a disappointment! The raspberry ice cream were not set enough and with the warm chocolate fudge, they decided to combine into one. Argh!! I was so angry with myself for not preparing the cake earlier. But there's nothing else I can do except to just go ahead and complete the cake.

A cross-section of the cut cake.

What a pity, I say :-(

Nevertheless, the birthday girl is happy to see her cake :-)

I'm submitting this to Aspiring Bakers: #9 Swiss Rolling Good Times by Obsessedly Involved with Food.

I used the same recipe here but just omit the decorative part.

Swiss Roll Ice Cream Cake
Ingredients
(A)
6 egg yolks
20g sugar
60g fresh milk
45g corn oil
100g plain flour/cake flour
15g corn flour

(B)
6 egg whites
70g sugar

(C)
Ice cream of your choice, 2 flavours

Method

Lightly whisk the egg yolks together with 20g sugar.
Add in fresh milk and corn oil, mix well.
Sift in plain/cake flour and corn flour and stir well. Set aside.
In another bowl, using an electric mixer, beat till egg whites are frothy. Add in sugar gradually and beat till stiff peak.
Fold in 1/3 of the whites into the yolk mixture using a rubber spatula till incorporated.
Pour the mixture to the remaining egg whites and fold in gently till incorporated.
Pour batter into lined 11" x 14" pan.
Using a spatula, level the top evenly.
Bake @ preheated oven of 180C for 12 - 13 mins.
When the cake is cooked, remove from oven and leave to cool completely.
Spread a layer of whipped cream/butter cream/jam onto the sponge cake. Roll it up and chill in fridge.

Chocolate Fudge
Ingredients
200g caster sugar (I used 150g)
3 tbsp of natural unsweetened cocoa powder
2 tbsp cornstarch
1 ½ cup water
1 tbsp butter
1 tsp vanilla extract (I omit)

Method

In a small saucepan, whisk together the sugar, cocoa powder, cornflour and water.
Place the pan over heat, and stir constantly, till it begins to thicken and is smooth (for about 2 minutes).
Remove from heat and mix in the butter and vanilla. Keep aside to cool .

Assembly

Cut the Swiss rolls into equal slices.
Cover the bottom and sides of the bowl (I used a loaf pan instead) in which you are going to set the dessert with cling film/plastic wrap.
Arrange swiss roll slices at the bottom and sides of the pan, with their seam sides facing away from the pan.
Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and freeze till the slices are firm. (I missed out this step)
Soften the first flavoured ice cream (for my case, it's raspberry ripple). Take the bowl out of the freezer, remove the cling film cover and add the ice cream on top of the cake slices. Spread it out to cover the bottom and sides of the bowl. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and freeze till firm.
Add the fudge sauce over the first layer of ice cream (chocolate chip ice cream for me), cover and freeze till firm (I left it overnight).
Soften the second flavoured ice cream and spread it over the fudge sauce. Cover with plastic wrap and freeze for at least 4-5 hours till completely set .
Remove the plastic cover, and place the serving plate on top of the bowl. Turn it upside down and remove the bowl and the plastic lining. If the bowl does not come away easily, wipe the outsides of the bowl with a kitchen towel dampened with hot water. The bowl will come away easily.
Keep the cake out of the freezer for at least 10 minu

Creative Swiss Rolls

2011-07-22T11:42:00.001+08:00

I cannot remember how long ago it was but I'm able to post any comments in blogger. I'm unable to login to my Google Account and whatever post is signed off as Anonyomous. Anyone has the same problem?

The last time I baked a cake was back in April, where I baked a pandan chiffon cake for my birthday. To date, the pictures are still sitting in my harddisk and I've not updated my blog :P When I saw July's Aspiring Bakers - Swiss Roll, I knew it's time to get my engine started again.

Reese made this Creative Srawberry Swiss Roll and I thought it was cute. I wanted to try my hands on it but just couldn't find the time. With Aspiring Bakers, what a perfect excuse to bake some swiss rolls ;-)

I didn't want to spend too much time on designing the strawberries so I just piped them into hearts instead.

I didn't do justice to this cake because the pictures were taken on a late afternoon where the sun was setting. I took 3 pictures of the cut cake and they were either overexposed or too dim. This is the best I have.

Verdict: Yields a soft and light cake.

If you are comfortable with chiffon method, this recipe is really quick and easy. Just make sure you've got all the ingredients measured out before you proceed, it helps.

With DS2's teachers in mind, I made another batch the next day, this time round with DD3 as my assistant. She helped to choose the colours and mixed them :-)

The baked cake, unrolled.

This is the only rolled up cake I have as I didn't have time to cut and pack. After my routine trip to the local supermarket, I prepared the cake before I cooked lunch. Yes, it is that quick and easy! However, by the time the cake is cooled, I didn't have enough time to chill it in the fridge and it was time to fetch DS2. So the rolls were given to DS2's Form Teacher and his Mother Tongue teacher in this state. I'm glad they like the cake but I think I can do better next time.

Let your creativity run wild! Unfortunately, I do not have the luxury to spend too much time on it. Maybe next time during the school holidays, I'll get DD1 to design her very own cake.

I'm submitting this to Aspiring Bakers: #9 Swiss Rolling Good Times by Obsessedly Involved with Food.

Creative Swiss Roll

Recipe seen here
Adapted from 小本
(with slight modifications on ingredients and method)

Ingredients
(A)
6 egg yolks
20g sugar
60g fresh milk
45g corn oil
100g plain flour/cake flour
15g corn flour

(B)
1/2 egg whites, ~ 20g
10g sugar

(C)
5.5 egg whites
70g sugar (I used 55g)

(D)
red colour paste

Method

Lightly whisk the egg yolks together with 20g sugar. Add in fresh milk and corn oil, mix well.
Sift in plain/cake flour and corn flour and stir well. Set aside.

Spoon out 30g egg yolk batter (about 2 tbsp) and mix in red colouring. Mix well.
Whisk the egg whites and sugar (ingredients B) till medium peak form and mix with the prepared 30g egg yolk batter. Stir well.
Spoon the pink batter into a piping bag with tip #3 (I just used a plastic bag and cut a small hole). Pipe some heart shape onto lined tray (11"x14").
Bake at 180'C for 1.5 minute, remove from oven.

In another bowl, using an electric mixer, beat till 5.5 egg whites are frothy. Add in 55g sugar gradually and beat till stiff peak.
Fold in 1/3 of the whites into the yolk mixture using a rubber spatula till incorporated.
Pour the mixture to the remaining egg whites and fold in gently till incorporated
Pour batter into prepared pan (the half-baked hearts).
Using a spatula, level the top evenly.
Bake @ preheated oven of 180C for 12 - 13 mins.
When the cake is cooked, remove from oven and leave to cool completely.
Spread a layer of whipped cream/butter cream/jam onto the sponge cake. Roll it up and chill in fridge before serving.

Sweet Watercress Drink

2011-07-12T23:42:00.001+08:00

School holidays are finally over! I was looking forward to the day to send DD1 and DS2 back to school :P Of course I enjoy having them home but to have them 24/7 is literally killing my brain cells everyday. I need to take a breather, I need some fresh air.

It had been 2 weeks since school started and DH is back to his hectic flying schedule. I've learnt to take things more positively, and is able to cope better now. Afterall, he joined the Regional team 2 years ago, and by hook or by crook, I need to adapt. If I'm not being understanding, I'll be giving him unnecessary stress. I'm also thankful that I was working in the Regional department and this made me understand that traveling is inevitable. In fact, I'm glad he is flying again as absence makes the heart grow fonder.

Anyway, I haven't been baking lately. Sometimes I just feel lazy and didn't even bother to cook dinner. Whatever is happening to me? I don't know, probably age is catching up as I get tired more easily. Pregnant? I wish but unfortunately not. Hahaha!

Feeling lazy to post something "complicated" so I went to my harddisk to search for the simplest recipe and found this. So I'm just going to share this simple drink that I made several months ago.

Couldn't get your kids to eat enough greens?

Drink it ;-)

My children like the savory soup (here, here and here) but they simply love this sweetened drink. I have a few other watercress related recipes but I'll leave that to future postings. If you do try this out, I hope your family will like it too.

Sweet Watercress Drink

Ingredients

500g watercress

2.5 - 3 litres water

2 - 3 dried honey dates (蜜枣)

rock sugar to taste (I used honey rock sugar)

Method

Wash watercress and cut into half. Rinse honey dates.
Add watercress and honey dates in a pot with 2.5 - 3 litres of water. Bring to boil. Reduce to small flame and simmer for 1 hour.
Add rock sugar to taste.
Sieve and serve, either warm or chilled.

Malacca, March 2011 - Part 3

2011-06-23T15:14:00.004+08:00

We have already returned from recent holiday in June but I'm not done posting the pictures for our holidays back in March :P Going to make it quick and short here, for my own reference.

For those interested, you may check out my earlier posts on our visit to Malacca here and here.

Nancy's Kitchen

Food wise so-so, nothing to shout about.

Pork Pongteh (RM10) - too sweet for us

Softshell crab (RM12) - taste normal, nothing fantastic

Assam Fish (RM42) - this is the only dish we like

Fried Egg with Cincalok (RM6) - cannot find any attraction in this dish

Fried Angle Bean (RM8) - the beans tasted extremely old and chewy, despite asking for less chilli (for the kids), we still find it way too spicy for the adults.

Cendol (RM3) - Nothing fantastic too but I thought it tasted better than Jonker 88 (read review here).

Total bill: RM107.65 including steamed rice and 4 drinks.

From a Singaporean standard, not an expensive dinner but as far as I'm concern, it is not value for money. With the same amount, I'll rather go back to Teo Loong Chan Teochew Seafood Restaurant.

We spent a total of RM1900 nett for 3 days 2 nights in Malacca, 3A + 3C. This marks the end of our 2nd trip to Malacca.

Quick Plum Sauce Chicken

2011-06-21T15:17:00.002+08:00

Pardon my disappearing act as I've been really busy. School holidays started in late May and I've got 3 monsters at home 24/7. It is a chore to have them home, creating havoc and driving me up the wall. It is worst when I have to do marketing, imagine lugging 3 young kids to the supermarket. A simple 30 mins trip turned into an hour or more. Oh well, that's life. I choose to have 3 kids so I'm not complaining. Just have to grit my teeth for these few years. On a happier note, we have just returned from a 5 days trip to Malaysia :-)

Here's sharing a dish that my family likes, Plum Sauce Chicken. I've been cooking this quick and simple dish whenever I run out of ideas.

The meat is very tender and it taste great with plum sauce. However, DH doesn't appreciate the wine in it so I've reduced the quantity by 2/3. Feel free to add more wine if your family enjoys it.

Quick Sour Plum Sauce Chicken
Adapted from Mary Moh, with slight modifications

Ingredients A
14 mid-joint chicken wings
1.5 Tablespoon plum sauce
2.5 Tablespoon tomato sauce
2.5 Tablespoon soya sauce
3/4 Tablespoon sugar
1 Tablespoon rice wine
3/4 Tablespoon oyster sauce
250ml water

Ingredients B (thickening) - optional
1 Tablespoon corn flour
60ml water

Method

Mix ingredients A together in a pot and boil for 30 mins.
For a thicken sauce, mix 1 tablespoon corn flour with 60ml water. Mix well and pour into the pot of chicken. Mix well and let it boil again to thicken the sauce. Turn off the fire and serve immediately.

Malacca, March 2011 - Part 2

2011-05-20T17:00:00.002+08:00

Here's part 2 of our Malacca trip back in March. We are planning another trip to Malacca, but unfortunately Courtyard is fully booked on the dates we want. In fact, most of the hotels along Jonker Street are fully booked. There are a few other boutique hotels available but after reading the reviews @ Trip Advisor, I decided to venture further and give the ones at Jonker a miss. I explored the possibility of staying @ Holiday Inn as I've heard so much rave but the busy traffic across the hotel made me change my mind. A few other hotels with good reviews from Trip Advisor are fully booked too. So left with no other options, I settled for a budget hotel that is newly refurbished. I do hope we will have a pleasant stay there.

This is the view opposite our room.

This is our room. There is a huge window but it cannot be opened.

A dressing table just beside the window, as a decoration.

This layout is found in their inner yard, just behind reception area. Fengshui?

I like these furnitures! Not that I like to have them in my house but I feel that these nostalgia furniture gives the hotel character.

Walkway towards the rear, leading to the carpark.

Breakfast area

We didn't have a chance to visit Teo Soon Loong Chan Teochew Seafood Restaurant last year and since our room wasn't available for early check-in, we went for lunch first.

It is easy to overlook this restaurant as it is located in a quiet alley with a not so prominent signboard. In addition, the kitchen is at the entrance of the restaurant and it looks very rundown. Nevertheless, we found it by asking the locals for directions.

There are a few things to take note if you are planning to have a meal there:

Reservations is a MUST. We didn't but being the first customer (they are open at 12.30pm but we were there at 12.20pm), they allowed us a table. Contact number 606-282 2353.
You can't really dictate how you want the food to be cooked. You basically choose your ingredients from the counter and the rest, you leave it to the cook/chef.
Absolutely no food wastage. Why do I say that? That's because they do not allow you to over order. Also, before they clear the plates away, they'll make sure the plate is empty ie no leftovers. If there's even a mouthful of food left, the staff will it scoop up and serve to the person nearest to him.
Dessert (yam dessert/orh nee and fresh mango) is mandatory. We didn't order, it was served and charged to our bill.

Oyster Noodle (RM16). I'm not a fan of cooked oysters but since this is one of their signature dish, we went ahead to order this. No regrets!

Stir-fry vegetable (RM10). Not appealing looking but taste is not too salty, suits our taste bud.

Tofu with minced meat (RM9). This looks like a boring dish but it is absolutely fabulous. The gravy goes well with rice too. I don't usually eat minced meat outside but this is a must try for all!

Spring roll (RM9). Besides the tofu, my kids like this dish too. Maybe because it's deep fried?

Steamed prawns with ginger wine (RM25). We wanted to order steamed fish but the only fish DH eats must be "bone-less" (that's because I always debone for him back home). I reckon I won't have much time to debone for the 4th person so we changed our order to steamed prawns instead. We like the simplicity of this dish.

This goes well with the steamed prawns! There's another condiment on the table, sambal belachan with anchovies, which was absolutely yummy too!

I didn't manage to take pictures of their famous yam dessert/orh nee (RM18) as I was busy cleaning up after the kids. Again, I don't appreciate yam dessert (served with pumpkin and gingko nuts) but the dessert served is really smooth and thick. The fresh mango (RM8) was so-so too, I think the ones we bought at Machap stopover tasted better.

Our bill added up to RM128.60, including 4 glasses of freshly squeezed juice. Will I come again? Most definitely! Want to try their soft shell crab and suckling pig!

Of course, we visited the ever famous Jonker 88 again. However, I thought this trip was a letdown as the cendol wasn't as tasty and fragrant. It wasn't as satisfying as the first time. Maybe they have changed the gula melaka and coconut milk supplier? Will I go back there again? Maybe, might try out again this coming trip to see if their standard has improved.

These interesting words of wisdom caught my attention again and this time round, I remember to take some pictures.

Condensed Milk Chocolate Pound Cake

2011-05-18T11:29:00.009+08:00

Thanks to Aspiring Bakers by Small Small Baker, I'm digging out all my backlogs and getting them posted online :)

This Condensed Milk Pound Cake was a hit back in 2007/8. Many bakers tried and raved about it.

The only time I buy condensed milk is to make this cake (and this easy chocolate chip cookie here) for I have no other use for it. Instead of baking the regular pound cake, I added some cocoa powder and turned it into a chocolate cake.

Verdict: As good as plain, if not better.

I'm submitting this to Aspiring Bakers # 7: Chocolate Delight (May 2011) hosted by DG from Tested & Tasted.

Condensed Milk Chocolate Pound Cake

Ingredients

(A)
120g Butter, room temperature
40g Caster Sugar (I omit vanilla essence and used vanilla sugar instead)

(B)
1/4 Tsp Salt
1/2 Cup or 100g Condensed Milk

(C)
100g Cake Flour
20g Cocoa Powder
3/4 Tsp Baking Powder
1/4 Tsp Baking Soda
*Sift together

(D)
2 Eggs

Method

Preheat oven to 170 deg.C
In a bowl, cream butter and sugar till light and fluffy.
Add in salt and condensed milk, whisk till incorporated.
Add the sifted dry ingredients and beat until no traces of flour remains.
Beat in the eggs one at a time, beating well and scraping the bottom and sides of the bowl after each additions.
Pour the mixture into muffin cups and bake at 170 deg.C for 25 - 30 mins or till top is brown and skewer inserted comes out clean.