Kitchen Salivation

German Christmas Stollen

2014-11-26T17:03:00.002+11:00

Christmas Is Round the conner, and this is my long over due post.

Ingredients

Mixture A

Bread Flour 312g

Dry Yeast 16g

Fresh milk 275ml

Mixture B

Bread flour 343g

Soft Butter 218g

Brown Sugar 75g

Marzipan 63g

Salt 6g

Mixture C

Mixed fruit 800g (pre soked in Rum/whiskey)

(or use Orange juice for halal version)

Spice powder 12g

Almond Flakes 125g

Marzipan 300g

Method

Mix Mixture A in the mixer for about 5 minutes, then add in Mixture B. mix well on the kneading cycle for another 10 minutes. Lastly add in Mixture C and mix for a minute or till the fruits have mixed thru the mixture. ** do not over mix as you do not want the fruits to break up.

Place the dough on to a floured bench and portion in to 6 portion roughly around 250g per portion and prove.

Then portion the Marzipan in to 6 portion which is about 50g per portion

As this is a very soft dough just press with your hands to form a flat oval shape as the picture below, roll the marzipan to the length of the dough(see picture below) and fold over leaving a 1.5-2 cm lip or gap on the bottom half of the dough. Let dough prove under a damp towel.

Bake at 170-180C for about 10-15 minutes, lower temperature to 160-150C and continue baking for another 20-30 minutes. once it is ready take it out of the oven and while it is still hot sift icing sugar over the Christmas stollen. And there you have it your own Home made Christmas stollen!

Have a Merry Christmas And A Happy New Year!

Quick Icecream Shake

2014-11-26T15:25:00.000+11:00

This is an idea for those of you that are on the path of eating healthy, but still like to eat your favourite food such as ICECREAM!! As it says quick, but before hand you will have to ether freeze the ice-cream bowl maker(as per manufactures instructions) or if your using one that has a compressor then your ready to go. Suitable for Vegans.

Ingredients

2 packets of your choice of shake(My choice, Juice Plus complete Vanilla)

400mls of milk of your choice (Almond milk)

Method

Pour the contents of the 2 packets of shake mix in to a bowl and mix well while adding the milk

Be sure to get all the lumps out, unless you love to have lumps of powder sensation after its made.

Let it sit for 20-30 minutes for the contents to rehydrate.

Set up your Ice cream maker, get the machine going and pour it in a steady stream.

let the machine run on a low to medium speed if its a mixer, till it is the right consistency, round about 10-15 minutes. Transfer it out to a container or you could eat it straight from the bowl if you like.

You can keep it in the freezer for later but must be consumed with in the hour. It is kind of soft serve ice-cream. If not consumed with in that hr, it would come out flaky but still as yummy.

ITS GREAT TREAT FOR A HOT SUMMERS DAY OR NIGHT!!

And best of all Guilt Free!!

If you like You can serve it with your favourite muesli bar, I Love the Juice plus Complete wholesome Grains +Cranberries bar. Break it up to resemble crumbs to add texture to the yummy ice-cream treat.

**Juice Plus Complete shake comes in two flavours Vanilla and Dutch chocolate.
**Juice Plus Complete Bar Comes in two flavours Spiced Apple and Raisin, Wholesome Grains and Cranberries

Chicken Rice

2013-02-12T12:48:00.001+11:00

Hello Everybody Its been two years since my last post!! How time flies when we are so caught up with everything life.

Ok lets get in to it shell we?

Coriander Salsa

Coriander 1 bunch

Garlic 1/2 bulb

Vegetable Oil 4-5 tbsp

salt to taste

Wash Coriander to get rid of the sand or soil, cut off the root and reserve for the stock. slice as fine as you can and transfer it in to a bowl. With the garlic peel and slice.

Then heat a pan or wok, add the oil in the pan. Add in the sliced garlic and pan fry on a mid to low heat. (be sure that the oil is not too hot we don't want burnt garlic) when its turned brown or golden brown, tip the garlic and the oil in to the sliced coriander. Add salt and give it a good mix. set a side too cool.

Chicken and Soup/Broth Component

basically you can put what ever Vegetable in the soup to enhance the flavours

here I have added

Onions 2

Celery 2-3sticks

Carrots 3

Ginger 2

stalks from the lemon grass

roots of the coriander

Garlic 1 bulb

Salt to taste

Water enough to cover the chicken

Size 9 chicken 2

(reserve the fat of the chicken near the cavity of the chook for the rice)

Would have loved to add winter melon but I could not find any.

Put everything except the Chicken in to a pot. and bring to boil. turn the heat down to medium to low setting, then lower the chicken in to the stock and simmer for 40-45 minutes, turning the chicken at the 20 minute mark.

After that, Yes I understand the Chicken is cooked but the rice is not cooked. Take the pot off the stove and leave the chicken in the pot to keep warm till the rice is cooked.

There are many ways to cut up the chicken so below is just one of the ways to do it.

Oh nearly forgot, there is a soy sauce part to the chicken. Mix about 5-6 tbsp of chicken stock to 3-4 tbsp of soy sauce, then add a tbsp of sesame oil, mix and pour over the cut chicken.

The Rice Component

Chicken Fat - what ever Fat you can get from the cavity of the chook

Vegetable oil 1 tbsp

Lemon Grass 1 stick

Ginger 1size of thumb

Onion 1

Garlic 8-10 pips

Rice 2 1/2 Chinese bowls

Chicken stock 5 Chinese bowls

Wash the lemon grass, cut off the stocky part and save it for the stock. Now with the bottom part of the lemon grass slice it thin. onions peeled and finely diced, ginger finely diced, garlic crushed or roughly chopped.

Heat a pan on high flame, add in oil and chicken fat, render the fat till the pieces of fat turns brown, take the pieces out and discard. Add in the chopped and sliced ingredients and fry till soft with out browning. add in rice and fold thru.

There are two ways you could cook the rice on the stove or in a rice cooker. in this case i am using a rice cooker. Pour the rice in to the rice cooker and add the chicken stock.

Season to taste, and press the button and wait till the button pops back up, oh don't for get to turn the power on ;P while that's going

Chilli Component

Chilli 7-8 medium size

Garlic 1/2 bulb

Ginger 2 thumbs worth

salt

Chicken stock 4-5 tbsp

Cut and peel the garlic and ginger, roughly cut the chilli and place all of the ingredients in a jug or a container and blend with a stick blender. Or if your using a food processor just put it in, don't need to bother to cut it smaller. Then after thats done pour it in to a pot and bring to boil, turn off and set a side to cool.

Sliced Cucumber

Right, its all done now. Enjoy and I wish you all the best in trying this out.

3 Egg and chicken Congee(Rice porridge)

2010-11-28T19:01:00.000+11:00

1-2 small Onion, slice thin

1-2 tsp Garlic, crush

1-2 tsp Ginger, crush

1 Chicken Breast, dice

1 Century Egg, shelled and diced

1 Salted duck egg, shelled and diced

1 Chicken egg

200g Rice

800-1000 ml Water/chicken stock

Sesame oil

Salt and pepper

Method

wash rice and strain. Heat up a pot with a little oil, fry off ginger garlic and onion till fragrant. add in chicken and seal off. then add in rice mix, add in the water, century egg and duck egg. bring up to boil then simmer till the rice splits roughly 1-1.5 hrs. season to taste. then lighly beat the chicken egg and stir it in to the congee add sesame oil.

Now dig in :)

Enjoy:)

Ideas To decorate or use Gingerbread

2010-11-28T18:30:00.000+11:00

Gingerbread house

Royal Icing

Ginger bread, rolled and baked as per the above picture

Candies/lolies/sweets/chocolates

Method

Cut the gingerbread in to desired shape(use a template if not sure if the design of the house would fit), using the the royal icing glue the ginger bread together as the following pictures. oh don't forget to cut out a door and window for the house after all it won't be a house with out a door and window.

you can put candies in to the house if you like or your gift

then decorate as you like

Sample 1

Sample 2

oh i decorated the gingerbread man gave it eyes and mouth, buttons and boots

Royal icing

2010-11-28T18:24:00.000+11:00

1 egg white

250g icing sugar

1tsp vinegar/lemon juice

Method

pour in everything in to the mixing bowl, mix on low for 2-3 min then on high for 3-4 min or till white as snow:) scoop it out in to a piping bag :)

uses

Gingerbread house

Gingerbread man

(will add more as i go along)

Gingerbread

2010-11-24T20:34:00.000+11:00

Ingredients

1L Honey

0.5kg Sugar

0.33L Fresh Milk(UHT milk can be used)

4 nos Eggs

10g Ginger Powder

13g Cinnamon Powder

20g Baking Powder

20g Baking Soda

2kg Cake Flour(plain flour)

Method

Bring sugar and milk to boil then add the honey and take off the heat. Mix well and set a side to cool. Sift all the dry ingredients together.

When honey mixture has cooled pour in to a mixing bowl(if using a mixer use a dough hook), add the eggs mix well.

scoop in the sifted dry ingredients on a low speed setting till it is all combined,( the mixture was too much for the mixture so i transfered it to another bowl to finish the mixing process by hand) Do not over mix the mixture.

When all is combined, set a side for at least 2 hrs resting time or you can continue the next step the next day.

On a floured bench take out a chunk of the dough, roll it out with a rolling pin to a thickness of 0.5 cm. Then dock it with a fork or a docker(Dock=to make small holes on a pastry)

And use a cutter of your choice to cut the dough( in this case its a Gingerbread man). Place the gingerbread man on to a lined baking tray, brush egg wash over the gingerbread man and bake in a pre-heated oven of 160-170C(every oven is different i set mine at 150C) for 6-7 min then take it out of the oven and brush egg wash over the gingerbread man, back in to the oven for another 6-7 min or till golden brown.

Now you will have left over Scrap dough. What to do with it? well you still can use it, but remember you must not over mix it. So no kneading the dough, just pile the dough together and just press the dough together to form a square or round, and roll it out again like before.

Always try to get as much portions from the first roll.

This yields a lot of gingerbread man. I estimated about 60-70 nos of this size of gingerbread man.

Have fun:)

Golden Syrup

2010-11-11T08:03:00.000+11:00

Ingredients

600g Sugar

450ml water

4 slices lemon (as in the picture below)

Method

Place everything in to a pot, over high heat desolve the sugar with out stirring(if it is stirred crystals would form and would not have a great result). bring it to a boil and then simmer for 50 min(soft ball stage, 120C)

Set it a side to cool, then pour it in to a bottle and it is ready to be used the next day.

*yes the sugar has to be made the day before (can be kept for a yr plus(for next yr)) making your moon cake or other recipes that require it:)

*yes i know i put only 2 slices of lemon i did only half recipe :)

My New Toy

2010-11-11T07:39:00.001+11:00

As you can see this is my new toy in the kitchen!!!

My trusty hand mixer beater broke after 3 yrs of putting up with me:)

As my Grandfather always tell us, "if the old one don't go the new one won't come:)

now you will see more of it in my pictures:) oh i can do more with it too:)

quick drunken chicken with mien sien (for one)

2010-11-10T20:33:00.000+11:00

um where to start....

1/2 onion, sliced

2 garlic cloves, sliced

1 tsp ginger, crushed

4-5 chinese spoon chinese rice wine

100-200 g chicken breast, diced and seasoned with salt and pepper

1-2 serves mien sien

some pak choi

200-250mil chicken stock/ water

Method

Put on a pot of boiling water. In another heated pot add a table spoon of oil and add in the onion, garlic and ginger. Fry till fragrant, then add in the chicken to seal. then add in the rice wine, let it reduce slightly and add in the chicken stock and bring up to boil and simmer.

By this time the pot of water would be boiling drop in the mien sien and stir till cook strain. refresh with cold water and then strain of the cold water and in to the simmering drunken chicken soup add in the pak choi and it is ready to eat:)

orange and poppy seed cake

2010-11-10T20:27:00.001+11:00

250g Butter, room temperature

300g Sugar

3 Egg

300g Flour, sifted

2 Orange juice

2 Orange rind

2 tbspBlue Poppy Seeds

100mlMilk

3 tsp Baking powder

Method

Cream butter and sugar till white, roughly 4-5 minutes on medium speed. while waiting for the butter, sift flour and baking powder. then add in eggs one by one to the creamed butter. add in the poppy seed, rind and juice of orange and the sifted flour. mix on low speed(fold in), then add in milk and fold.

Pour in to a baking vessel, bake in a pre-heated oven of 160C and bake for 45min or until its cooked. To check if its done, use the skewer method where by the bamboo skewer is stuck in to the middle of the cake and comes out clean.

yes it didn't rise at the sides my oven was a bit too hot.

Happy trying:)

Bread pudding

2010-11-10T20:22:00.000+11:00

Ingredients

1lit milk

8 eggs

2 egg yolks

150g sugar

Left over Bread*

Butter

20-50g sugar, just for coating

Method

Butter the baking dish that your using and coat it with the sugar. Cut bread in to cubes and place in to buttered dish

Place the eggs in to a bowl and in another pot bring the milk and sugar to the boil. Then whisk the eggs and add a ladle of the milk mixture and mix well, now pour in the milk in a long thin stream while whisking the mixture together. then pour the mixture in to the buttered dish with the bread, and soak for at least 1 hr.

Bake in a pre-heated oven of 150-140C for 30-45 min or till cooked. To test if its cook give it a little shake if its still jelly like in the middle it not done or you could use a small knife to poke in the middle and see if there is still liquid that has not set.

To be served warm. with a side of ice cream/ berry compote/ vanilla custard

Have A wonderful Day!!

Drunken chicken my style

2010-11-10T00:56:00.001+11:00

2 bottles Shau xing rice wine

200g chicken feet, cleaned and nails cut

10-15 dried mushroom, soaked in hot water till soft, remove stems

1 bulb garlic

1 thumb size ginger, smashed with a cleaver

3-4 small onions, peeled and halved

1 whole Chicken, cut up

2 tbsp chinese wolfberries

water just enough to cover the chicken

Salt and pepper

Method

Put everything in to a pot and bring to boil. then simmer for 1.5-2 hrs or till chicken feet falls off the bone.

Serve with a bowl of rice or freshly cooked mien sien(chinese noodle)

This dish/soup goes well with hard boil egg:)

* a chinese spoon of Rice wine can be added to the bowl of soup just before serving to give it an extra boost

Hope you enjoy what i enjoyed.

Lamb with home made mint sauce

2010-11-10T00:17:00.000+11:00

Mint sauce

Lamb chops

Garlic, crushed

Salt

Pepper

Desire Potatoes(any potatoes will do), cut in to bite size

Oil

Dried mix herbs

Fresh/ frozen vegetable of your choice

Butter

Marinade the lamb in the mint sauce, garlic, salt and pepper for 2 hrs or over night.

In a bowl mix potato, oil, a bit of garlic, mix herbs, salt and pepper. place in a baking tray and roast for 20-35 min or till cook in a pre-heated oven of 180C.

For the Lamb heat a pan with a little oil till smoking point is reached, place lamb in to the pan and cook it 2 min on each side. set a side to rest. while its resting, blanch the vegetable in hot water (you can boil water in the kettle and pour it in to a pot). then transfer the vegetables to the pan, over high heat toss the vegetables with some butter and season to taste:)

Plate the food up, eat it while its hot:)

Enjoy:)

Mint Sauce

2010-11-10T00:09:00.000+11:00

I did some gardening and found a whole lot of mint growing wild. So decided to harvest it.

But what to do with it???

well mint sauce(jelly)

We start off with the Apple Stock

2.5kgs of cooking apples(granny smith)rough chop, skin seeds and all

1.25lits of water

1.25 lits of white vinegar

Method

Place apples and water in a pot and bring to boil and simmer for 45 minutes or until soft and pulpy. add vinegar and cook further 5 min. then strain the liquid thru a muslin cloth or tea towel and with pulp and all let it stand for 3-4 hrs or over night.

2-3 tbsp mint leaves, blanched, chopped fine

1 lit apple stock

0.75 g sugar

Bring the stock and sugar to boil and boil for 5-10 minutes, take it off the heat. then test if it has reached its setting point by placing a bit of the stock on to a plate to cool. once cooled when you run your finger thru the plate it should crinkle up, if not then return it to the boil for another 5-10 min and retest it again.

when setting stage has been reached skim off the scum and stir in the mint and pour in to sterilised jars and cover immediately with plastic wrap and cover or vinegar proof covers.

Baked Sambal Fish (flat head)

2010-11-10T00:06:00.000+11:00

I manage to catch this fish the other day and baked it:)

to make the sauce

1 fish

2-3 small onion(1/2 if onions are big)

2 tbsp garlic chopped

150ml lemon/lime juice

2tbsp chili paste

2 tsp shrimp paste

2 tbsp sugar

salt to taste

Method

pan fry onion and garlic with a little oil, add chili and shrimp paste. fry till fragrant, add sugar mix thru and add lemon/ lime juice. season to taste.

lightly season the fish in side and outside the fish. Fill the cavity of the fish belly with some of the filling, place the fish on baking tray line with baking paper. pour the rest of the filling/sauce over the fish. bake in preheated oven at 180C for 20-30 minutes. (well depends on how big the fish is) serve with steamed rice.

yum yum!!

All gone...

Plain Scone

2010-11-04T14:49:00.000+11:00

Ok just a quick one:)

Ingredient

400g Plain flour

25g Baking powder

100g Butter, room temperature

2 nos Egg

85g Sugar

150ml Full Cream Milk

Method

Sift plain flour and baking powder in to a bowl. make a well in the middle and put the rest of the ingredients in to the bowl. Mix it together just until it combines (you don't want to over mix it it will cause it to be rock hard ) lightly flour your bench.

Then transfer the dough on to the bench, flour your hands or you could also lightly flour the top of the dough and gently press it down to a thickness of 3-4 cm.

With a round cutter, cut the dough and place it on a lined baking tray about 1.5-2 cm a part (but its too close you say?)this will help in the rising of the product:)

I am sure at this point you will be wondering what to do with the scraps of dough. what i did is i push it all together (with out kneading it) to form a ball or sort of round disk to the same thickness and cut it again till its all gone.

Now in a pre-heated oven of 160-170C, place the scones in the oven and bake till golden brown, roughly 10-15 min

serve it warm with tea or coffee with a side of jam and whipped cream.

* if you like to add dried fruit to the scones you can but make sure you soak it in juice or some alcohol or both so that it would not be dry. for this recipe about 400g of dried fruit(raisin) would do the trick.(to be added with the rest of the ingredients after the flour has been sifted)

have a wonderful day!!

Traditional Moon Cake

2010-09-20T18:21:00.000+10:00

Moon cake is traditionally made during Mid autumn festival in China. This is where it all started. The Chinese people would celebrate it by making lanterns and making moon cake and i think there is a story behind this celebration. Something about a lady in the moon. :)

Well here it goes!!

Ingredients

(1) 300 ml Golden syrup

7 tbsp peanut oil *

1tsp Alkaline water

2 tbsp flour

(2) 500g flour

Method

Mix (1) in in a small bowl and set a side overnight to rest.

Sift flour in to a bowl and make a well(can be done on the table) pour (1) in the well and knead till it all comes together.

Cover with a wet towel(plastic wrap) and rest 30 min. then divide the dough in to portion according to your mold size. ratio filling to dough 60%:40% or 3:2

Anyway i portion this 40g per portion and 6 portions of 26g.

The filling I didn't make this time around but i bought it in(saves time)

made 3 types of filling for this traditional moon cake

Filling (1)

1 can of red bean paste (510g each)

Sunflower seeds(toasted)

Filling(2)**

100g walnuts (toasted)

100g almond (toasted)

100g melon seeds

100 sunflower seeds

2 pcs candied mandarin orange (finely chopped)

100g candied winter melon strips( finely copped)

seasoning

50g caster sugar

6 tbsp groundnut oil*

3 tbsp sesame paste(tahini)

1/4 tsp salt

4 tbsp ice water

100 g roast glutinous rice flour

1 tsp brandy

1/4 tsp pepper

Filling (3)

2 cans lotus paste(510g each)

sunflower seeds(roasted)

Filling(1)

Place red bean paste in a stainless steel pot and cook it out for 15-20 min to get the excess moisture out, add seeds mix thru and set a side to cool. Once cooled portion to 40g each.

Filling (2)

combine all into a bowl and mix till it comes together portion in to 60g each

Filling (3)

Place lotus paste in a stainless steel pot and cook it out for 15-20 min to get the excess moisture out, add seeds mix thru and set a side to cool. Once cooled portion to 60g each.

Egg wash

2 eggs

1 egg yolk

50ml milk

To put it together

Roll out the dough in to a round shape place the filling in the middle (60g filling:40g skin, 40g filling: 26g skin) bring the skin up and seal the filling in. Place the moon cake in a flour dusted moon cake mold(if you just want to make it for your self and don't have the mould its ok, the main thing is the taste:D). knock it out and there you have your first moon cake. Repeat the process till finish. ( for the red bean paste filling i used a smaller mold). keep the moon cakes under a damp tea towel till your all done.

Glaze the moon cake with egg wash using a brush.

In a pre heated oven of 230C, place the moon cakes in the oven for 10 min and take it out to cool for a bit and re-glaze it again with egg wash and back in to the oven to bake for another 10 min. Then cool on a wire rack.

Best to be eaten a few days later. This is to allow the oils to come out to develop the flavors (lets say 2-3days would be best but minimum of 1 day)

* now days many people are intolerant to peanuts, normal vegetable oil would do. traditionally lard was used.

** 100g chinese bbq dried chicken cut finely, i didn't use this because it is hard to find it where i live. Just switch the pork to chicken breast. some recipes use the pork ones. :)

Curry Puff With Potato Filling

2010-09-19T10:33:00.001+10:00

Hi this was an impromptu or should i say i felt like making it at the time... the filling was made up with what ever i had:)

Filling :

500g potato, peeled and diced

1 medium size onion, diced

2 tsp of garlic, crushed

1 tsp ginger

curry powder, to your liking

Salt and pepper

coriander

250 coconut milk

Dough:

Water dough:

200ml oil

120g shortening

200ml water

640g plain flour

oil dough:

200g plain flour

120g shortening

Method

Filling- mix curry powder with some oil to make a paste. In a hot pan/ pot with a little oil fry off the paste with the garlic, ginger and the onions, till fragrant. then add in the potato and coat it with the paste. add the coconut milk and bring up to the boil, add Salt and pepper and then simmer till its cook (you might need to add a little water or veg stock while cooking, when needed) when the potatoes are cooked but not mushy fold in the coriander and set a side to cool and chill.

water Dough- mix everything in a bowl till it forms a dough, portion it to 100g each

Oil dough- make sure the shortening is room temperature rub in the flour, and portion in to the same amount of water dough you have

then roll out the water dough, round and put the oil dough in the middle and seal the dough. press down the dough and roll it, oval and roll it up like a swiss roll and turn it where the swirly part is facing up and on the beach press it down and roll it, oval and roll it up like a swiss roll. ( repeat the same process with the other water and oil dough). leave it to rest for 20-30 mins.

For a smaller curry puff cut the dough so that you can see the spiral, place the cut side down press down and roll in to an oval shape put some filling in the middle and pleat the sides.

in hot oil of 160-170C fry the pastries till golden brown, served hot or warm. with a coffee or tea :)

enjoy:)

Cha Siew Pau

2010-09-19T10:12:00.001+10:00

Filling:

500g Char siew(chinese BBQ pork) small dice

1 tbsp oyster Sauce

1/4 tsp salt

2 tsp sugar

1 1/2 tsp sesame oil

1 tsp dark soy sauce

1 tbsp corn flour

2 tbsp water

Method:

Combine everything and lightly fry in a pan till all combined. Set a side and cool. Chill well if possible overnight.

Dough mix:

12g dried yeast

2tbsp tepid water

1 tsp sugar

500g pau flour(hong kong flour)

4 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp salt

250ml water

6 tbsp sugar

5 tbsp shortening

Method:

In a small bowl mix yeast and 1 tsp sugar and tepid water, give it a stir. then sprinkle some of the flour over it and set a side to let the yeast do its magic:) till frothy.

In another bowl sift flour and baking powder and and add in all the dry ingredients, mix well. make a well in the middle and add in the yeast mixture, add water and mix well till it forms a dough, knead in the shortening till smooth. Leave a side covered with a cling film or a damp tea towel till double in size. knock down dough and shape in to a log and cut in to 16-17 portions (small pau)

how to put the pau together?

roll the dough in to a circular shape and put some filling in to the middle, bring up the sides to seal. *try not to get sauce on the outer ring of the dough it will help in the sealing proses and it will not open up when steamed:) place a piece of grease proof paper at the bottom of the pau.

leave to rise 10 - 15 min(well depending on the temperature the time will vary). Then steam pau over rapidly boilling water for 12- 15 minutes.

oh if you have leftover filling this is one way of using it up :)

Wedding cake With Orchids

2010-09-19T09:11:00.000+10:00

This is my first time making orchids. I thought about making them for a long while, if i should just stick to roses or challenge my self and learn in the same process :)

So Here it goes.

want to know how to recycle drinking cans? well this is one of the ways :p

My Back up plan if the orchids failed:)

Roses anyone?

This took me abit over 2 days to finish just the flowers. a bit of a rush work, the petals actually not set properly. Every step needed at least 24 hrs to dry. All because I don't Have Talose powder(which helps in the setting process). In a rush i gave it 12hrs to set in between. Thank God

Long yolk, Bak kwa, Chinese Pork Jerky

2010-03-13T09:30:00.000+11:00

Ingredients

1 Kg Mince Pork

1/4 Salt

1/8 tsp 5 spice powder

3 tbsp soy sauce

300-345g Sugar (pending how sweet you like it could go less if liked)

1 tbsp Chinese rice wine

1 tbsp sesame oil

1/8 tsp White Pepper

2 tbsp Fish sauce

Mix all in to a bowl and marinade 4-6 hrs or overnight

press into a thin baking tray with baking paper in between (i used cling film(plastic wrap) over the meat and a rolling pin to prevent the meat from sticking on to the rolling pin)

Bake at 200C for 12 min, then cut in to squares

and it should look like this

using a grill or better if you have a Bbq pit :)

Yum yum :)

Lo Pak Ko / daikon cake, Chai Tou Gau

2010-03-13T08:57:00.001+11:00

Ingredients

600g-700g Daikon (chinese turnip) Grated or chopped

30g dried Shrimp

20g Dried Chinese Mushroom

150g chinese sausage ( Lap Cheong)

1 tbsp Oil

3 stocks Spring onion (Scallion/ Shallots)

6-7 shallots (eshallots/ french onion)

3 tsp sugar

3 tsp Shao Xing Rice wine

1/4 ground white pepper

salt to taste

2 tsp chopped coriander

300 rice flour

500-600 ml of reserved liquid (water)*

Method

I chopped and sliced the turnip. soak mushroom in boiling water till soft drain and squeeze out excess water (reserve all liquid), discard stems and dice caps. Sausages you can ether boil it or steam it. I choose to boil it. then finely dice it. (reserve all liquid) soak dry shrimp in boiling water roughly for an hour and drain.(reserve liquid) roughly chop spring onion and coriander. add some chilled reserved liquid into a bowl with the rice flour just to avoid lumps in the mixture later :)

heat wok on high, add oil and heat till smoking. Add sausage and fry for a minute and add in the shallots, shrimp and mushrooms. fry till fragrant, add turnip give it a good stir. then add in rice wine, pepper, salt, sugar and the rest of the reserved liquid. mix it through and cover and simmer for 4-5minutes and turn off the heatadd in the spring onions. After that add in the rice flour mixture and mix it through.

Pour the finished mixture in to the mould(i used a 20 inch silicone mould i think, you could use a square mould if you like) spread it out evenly. place in the steamer and steam for 1.5 hours or till firm, over a simmering water. Have a jug or pot of hot water ready to replenish steaming water. After that remove from the mould and cool and chill in the fridge overnight. Or if you can't wait.. :p when its slightly cool

You have two options.

1. cut it roughly 5cm by 5cm and 1cm thick, then heat a pan and about 1 tbsp of oil, pan fry the cake on both sides till golden and crispy

2. turnip cake (diced)

light soy sauce

rice wine

dark soy sauce

spring onions (sliced)

bean sprouts

egg

salt and pepper to taste

method

heat a pan with a little oil and fry off the turnip cake till golden. beat the egg lightly in a bowl and add to the pan, mix through. then add in the rice wine and soy sauces, mix well. and add in the bean sprouts and the spring onions, mix well. add salt and pepper to taste

yum yum!!! hope you too get to enjoy this dish!!!!

Nian Kau

2010-03-05T09:33:00.001+11:00

made this on Chinese New Year

Ingredients

Glutinous Rice flour 400g

Brown Sugar 400g

Coconut Cream 400g

Method

caramelise some of the sugar. (yes I know there is caster sugar there ran out of brown). When caramelise add in coconut cream and the rest of the sugar. mix till all the sugar has desolved.

Add the Coconut mixture to the G. Rice Flour in a bowl and mix well.

as you can see its lumpy, mix it all the lumps are gone.

Heat up some banana leaves over the flames so that it will be easier to work with. Line the steamer or mould with the banana leafs and pour in the batter about 3/4 full. steam on High for 3- 4 hrs or till its cooked. (if you find its not cooked you can re-steam it)

if your not using a bamboo steamer make sure you have a tea towel wrapping the cover to catch the water drips.

How to consume this Cake. Well there are many ways, first slice it as above then the variation starts. you can sandwich it between Yam/ taro or sweet potato and dip it in to a fritter batter and deep fry, or you could just dip in to lightly beaten eggs and pan fry or just re steam it till just soft.

wishing you all the best whit this one :)

pavalova

2010-03-05T09:13:00.001+11:00

Made this on Australia day :)

Ingredients

Egg whites 120ml (roughly 4 eggs)

Caster Sugar 200g

Cornflour 2 tsp

Vinegar/lemon juice/cream of tartar 1 tsp

Method

Mix sugar and corn flour in a bowl. In another bowl put egg whites in a clean, grease free Bowl. Using an electric mixer whisk the egg whites on high, till soft peaks form then add the sugar mixture bit by bit ( I did this with a tablespoon) while the mixer is still running, till all the sugar is all in the egg mixture. Add vinegar.

then continue beating it till stiff peaks form

line a tray with baking paper and scoop the meringue on to it and spread it roughly 18-20 cm in diameter. you can also pipe the meringue if wanting to make mini pavalovas. Bake in a Pre-heated oven at 120C for 45-1 hr or till it just changes colour (peach brown colour)

** Small ones take less time :)

Ingredients

Soft fruits

*berries

*peaches

*kiwi

*Papaya

*mango

*passion Fruit

Cream 200-300 ml

Caster Sugar 1 tbsp

Whip the Cream and the sugar till soft to medium peaks form. when meringue has cooled spread cream on to the top of the meringue and pile on the fruits. :)

*you can make the meringue a head of time but it has to be stored in a airtight Container

*The pavalova is best to be consumed with in 1-2 hrs after assembled

* Cream fresh may be used in stead of cream, But I would go half and half.

Hope you have fun with this:)