Veronica's Kitchen

Pork & Bean Enchiladas

2013-06-13T18:25:00.002-07:00

There is so little I have known about Mexican food. We make nacho, taco and tortilla quite a lot but that's probably what I have been up to. Last year, I went to a Mexican themed party hosted by my dear American friend, she used her Mexican relative's recipes making a range of food including some chilli black bean and that was quite interesting. I found that this enchiladas recipe from the newspaper using only kidney bean. I modified it a bit adding pork and avocado & sour cream topping to suit my family's taste. I add the topping because it is quite dry with the mince and bean and I have to say that I love the taste of coriander in this dish.

Pork & Bean Enchiladas
(make 5 rolls)

Ingredients:
520g pork mince
200g tinned red kidney beans
500g tomato pasta sauce
1 onion, finely cut
3 garlic gloves
2 tablespoons cumin
1/2 teaspoon chilli powder
grated cheese
salsa sauce
avocado
lite sour cream
fresh coriander
salt & pepper
5 Mission sun-dried tomato & basil wraps or any tortilla wraps

Method:

Heat oil in pan, cook onion and saute until onion starts to soften. Add garlic and pork mince and cook till it changes to brown colour. Add cumin, chilli powder, 1 cup of pasta sauce and 1/2 of the coarsely mashed red kidney beans. Simmer on low for a few minutes then add the rest of the whole beans.
Divide the filling into 5 portions. Fill the tortilla wraps with the filling and roll up, place the end downward. Arrange tortilla into a baking dish, spread the rest of the pasta sauce over and sprinkle with grated cheese.
Bake for 20 minutes or until golden brown in a preheated oven at 180c.
Mix the diced avocado with salsa sauce. Cut the enchiladas half and arrange onto the serving plate. Top with avocado salsa mix and sour cream. Sprinkle with some fresh coriander and serve with green salad.

Hong King Style Chicken & Potato Curry

2013-06-05T18:25:00.000-07:00

Growing up in a traditional Chinese family, my mum is the main cook for the family and she only cook very typical Chinese dishes. Dinner would be steamed fish, some stir-fry chinese vegetable, a meat dish with some soup. My dad would cook once in a while, this curry dish is one of his favourite. I always look forward for this dish because I love spicy food. Over the time, I have added lemon grass, more spice into this curry to make it more tasty to suit my family. This curry is not hot as the Indian or South-East Asian's, to me it's a Level 1 training to enjoy the curry dish.

Potato is very important in the dish, it helps thickens the sauce and most of the time what's left over is not potato but chicken.

Hong Kong Style Chicken & Potato Curry
(serve 4)

Ingredients:
900g chicken (a mix of wings, thighs and drumsticks)
1 small onion
2 lemon grass
4 washed potatoes or any potatoes
1-2 tablespoons oil
1 tablespoon garlic mince
2 tablespoon curry powder
1/4 teaspoon ground coriander seeds
1/4 teaspoon garam masala
1 cup water
1 cup lite coconut cream
1/4 cup evaporated milk
1 teaspoon sugar
1 1/4 teaspoon salt
salt and pepper for marinate
Methods:

Remove as much fat and skin from the chicken. Cut the chicken into chucks and marinate with salt and pepper for about 1 hour.
Cut onion into cubic chuck, peel skin off potatoes and cut into chucks, use the root of the lemon grass and cut diagonally into 2 to 3 pieces.
Heat oil in a big saucepan, saute the onion and garlic then add the lemon grass and chicken. Stir through until chicken starts to turn brown, add 1 cup of water. Turn down the heat and let it simmer for a few minutes, then add curry powder, ground coriander and garam masala and potatoes and stir through. Let it simmer for 5 minutes. Keep stirring for a few time.
Add the coconut cream, evaporated milk, salt and sugar into the curry, cover the lid and let it simmer for 25 minutes until the chicken and potatoes are cooked. Keep stirring for a few time to make sure the curry doesn't stick at the bottom, add more water if it turns too dry.
Serve with rice, salad and Indian bread.

Oat Milk Chai Latte

2013-05-31T18:01:00.000-07:00

We have winter comes in late this year and it seems that we get cold all of a sudden. This winter we have lots of clouds making it quite cold during day time. I have two sicks kids within a week. We have been missing the sun from the sunny Queensland. All I want to have the whole day is hot drinks. I have been on hot chocolate for a while and now I am into oat milk again. Just because I have to watch out for my cholesterol, I make up this Chai Latte using oat milk. It keeps me warm and make me healthy, yes it has only 1% of fat!

Oat Milk Chai Latte
(make 1 tall glass)

1 cup Vitasoy Oat milk
1 ceylon tea bag
2 teaspoons of sugar
ground cinnamon
extra froth oat milk or cow's milk

Method:
Pour the oat milk into a small saucepan, place a tea bag on the side and let it simmers for about 1 minute till the milk is hot and the tea infused into the milk. Add the sugar and sprinkle with cinnamon powder. Leave the heat and make froth milk. Pour the milk into a tall glass and top with froth milk. Enjoy!

Not Quite High-Hat Cupcakes

2013-05-29T01:48:00.002-07:00

I got this recipe from my daughter through an email with a title of "Make this". We don't leave apart and in an actual fact, her room is right next to mine. This is the modern way of talking to each other, I guess!

I made it for her 16th birthday, a very sweet cake for a sweet 16! It was a bit too sweet for everyone but just let it be sweet .... leaving us a sweet memory!

I should have watched the video on how to ice the chocolate icing beforehand because the high hat shrink and I much prefer icing with dark chocolate than milk chocolate! Overall, I am please with the result, at least it's edible! I think it's a beautiful cupcake, don't you?

There are two versions of the recipes from Martha Stewart's High-Hat Cupcakes, I use version 1, please check the recipe and video here, and version 2 uses commercial cake mix and the frosting don't use almond essence, whether it's better or not, I'd have to make it to find out. Please click here for version 2 recipe.

Pumpkin and Ricotta Puffs with Avocado Green Salad

2013-05-09T19:58:00.000-07:00

Mother's Day is one of the big promotion for retail stores and restaurants, you see the ads for gift ideas everywhere or ads for Mother's Day special at the local restaurants. We like to give kitchen appliances for my mother because she can use it to cook delicious food for us! My husband bought me this Phillip's Air Flyer last year, although not a Mother's Day present but I just loved it! It cooks wonderful crispy potatoes chips and chicken wings without using any oil. It doesn't only fry food with less oil, you can also baked creamy potato gratin or pasta using its brownie pan. It is a good kitchen helper that now sit permanently at my kitchen bench. The cooking time is shorter than a built in oven as it takes less time to heat up and the food get both sides cooked nicely. The downside is that it only has a small cooking tray and the maximum temperature goes up to 200c. However it's a great helper if you need an extra oven to cook up something small within a short time.

I roast the pumpkin using the Air Flyer and it takes only 12 minutes to get done. Then I bake the puffs in the big oven. The avocado salad goes well with the puffs, these day I just prefer something light liked this. I'm expecting my kids to make me breakfast in bed, some raisin toast with a glass of oat milk would be nice!

Have a Happy Mother's Day!

Pumpkin and Ricotta Puffs with Avocado Green Salad
(make 8)

350g pumpkin
1 tablespoon oil
1/2 teaspoon salt
40g cashew, toasted and grounded
1 tablespoon parmesan cheese
2 tablespoon light ricotta cheese
extra 1/4 teaspoon salt
pinch of chilli powder
2 sheets of puff pastry
egg wash for glazing

Avocado Green Salad:
Leafy Mixed
1/4 of a whole avocado
lemon infused olive oil
white rice vinegar

Methods:

Cut off the skin and seed of the pumpkin and cut into cubes. Season with salt and oil, toss through. Then place into the cooking tray of the Air Flyer and cook for 12 minutes at 180c.
Mesh the cooked pumpkin with the back of the fork, add in the cashew, parmesan cheese, ricotta cheese and season with the extra salt and chilli powder.
Cut the puff pastry into quarter, brush the sides with egg. Place a heap tablespoon of pumpkin mesh on a corner, seal. Repeat for the rest of the pastry.
Line a baking tray with baking paper. Bake in hot oven, 230c until it puffs up and starting to turn golden brown, turn down to 180c until the puffs turn all golden brown.
Rinse the leafy mix under the sink and drain, cut the avocado into cube, dress with the olive oil and vinegar.

Hummingbird cupcakes with marmalade icing

2013-05-04T01:38:00.001-07:00

I made these cupcakes due to two mistakes, first I bought the wrong type of tinned pineapple for making pizza, second I poured 5 times more crushed pineapple into the cake batter instead of the required amount. These sound like a kitchen disaster was approaching.....

I used the pineapple for the pizza anyway and it was not too bad. Then the rest of the tin had to be consumed and I remembered there was a recipe of hummingbird cupcake using it. The last time I made this cake, it didn't really reach my expectation, it's probably the recipe's fault. It also need a lot of ingredients to make this cake that you really need a plan to shop all the things you need. So here we go, I'm just lucky to have all the ingredients at home, including the ripe bananas.

With a high hope of having another round of a trial of the recipe, I ended up with a puddle of cake batter by adding too much pineapple. Should I add more ingredients to make more cupcakes or should I add more flour to thicken the batter? The later option was a good choice as the cupcakes came out moist with a good balance of flavour. My husband loved it and asked me what's in the cake, he named a few but couldn't name them all... so I bet him and won the game of naming ingredients.

Most icing for hummingbird cake used cream cheese, this one used homemade marmalade with whipped butter cream and that was the killer part of this cake! It would be a great cake to serve at a high tea on Mother's Day!

Have you ever make something amazing by mistake?

Hummingbird cupcakes with marmalade icing

125g plain flour
125g self-raising flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
125g caster sugar
115ml sunflower oil
2 eggs
150g mashed banana
1 1/2 tablespoon grated orange zest
60g grated carrot
60g desiccated coconut
440g tin of crushed pineapple

For the icing:
58g unsalted butter, softened
75g icing sugar, sieved
1 tablespoon orange juice
1 tablespoon marmalade

Method:

Preheat the oven to 175c. Place the muffin tin with paper cases.
Beat the oil and sugar till creamy than add in one egg at a time and beat until well mixed.
Add in sieved flour, baking powder and cinnamon into the egg mixture and stir. Then add in the rest of the ingredients and stir till combined.
Spoon the batter into the cases until 3/4 full. Bake for 25 minutes or until cooked. Cool the cake in the tin for 5 minutes.
Remove the cupcakes and cool the cake on a rack before icing.
For the icing: beat butter and icing sugar till light and fluffy, add the orange juice and marmalade and stir. Smear the icing onto the cupcakes before taking a big bite!

Potato Salad with Japanese Mayo and Pine Nuts

2013-04-26T16:19:00.000-07:00

This is one of my new creation and I eat this as a light meal on my meatless day or serve as a side salad with burgers. As I found that having a potato salad with just potato is too plain, by adding some greens into it adds more fibre and the pine nuts simply is a nice garnish with a bit of a crunch. I choose to use Japanese Mayonnaise because it has a full flavour of whole egg, bears in mind though it has 80% of fat so don't over dressing it as I know it is hard not to! My sister fed her fussy 2 years old with this salad and she just sat quietly and ate them all.

Potato Salad with Japanese Mayo and Pine Nuts

4-5 baby potatoes
a bowl of leafy mix (fancy lettuce, baby spinach leaves, rockets and beetroot leaves)
a small handful of pine nuts, toasted
Japanese Mayonnaise
salt and coarse black pepper to taste

Method:

Peel the skin of the potatoes (you can leave the skin if you wish) and cut into cubes. Cook the potatoes cubes into boiling water until cooked. If you can poke a fork into the cubes, it is ready.
Drain the water and leave the potatoes cool. Rinse the leafy mix with water and drain as well.
Put the leafy mix and potatoes into a big bowl. Add the pine nuts and mayo. Seasoned with salt and coarse black pepper before serving. Enjoy!

Thai Style King Crab Salad

2013-04-04T18:56:00.000-07:00

One year we went to Japan, our tour guide helped us to order some snow crab from Hokkaido express down to Tokyo. We had watched many travel shows talking about how tasty the crab was so we didn't want to miss the chance while we were in Japan. The crab was cooked and came with a pair of scissor to help cutting the shell. It was one of the unforgettable moment we had in our trip.

I'd seen live Australian king crab in some Asian restaurants or in the aquarium but I'd never tasted it.
The first time I saw it selling at Coles, I was wondering it would taste as good as the snow crab as both of them live in the cold region. This crab salad hadn't disappointed us, the meat was not as strong as the mud crab but had more flavour than sand crab, it's flaky and sweet. I like to serve mud crab as a hot dish and king crab is better to serve cold.

The importance of cooking Thai food is to balance the sweet and sour flavour, I do not have an exact measurement for this recipe as it's all up to your taste buds to tell you what to put in.

Thai Style King Crab Salad

King Crab claws (cooked)
cucumber
onion
chilli
coriander
mint
lime
salt & pepper
fish sauce

Method:
Remove crab meat from the shell. Finely cut cucumber and onion, marinate with salt, then rinse and drain. Squeeze out juice and add to the crab meat. Add the chopped up the coriander, mint and chilli, seasoned with fish sauce, pepper, lime juice and sugar. Serve cold.

Easter Bunny Popsticks

2013-03-22T21:19:00.000-07:00

There is only a week away from Easter, this year I'm making chocolate bunny to give to people instead of store brought Easter eggs. I found this "Make your own Easter Gifts" pack from IGA supermarket at $10. It includes all the things you needed to make 12 chocolate bunnies. I buy more chocolate melts and have been making many bunnies (I do lost count how many I've made as I eat some along the way...)

I have been experiment different flavour, and I like the Hundred & Thousand Bunny and Milk top bunny the most. The pure white choc bunny takes longer time to set and it doesn't keep well at room temperature. It would be great to have more mould so it would take me faster to do the job. I found that reheating the melted chocolate is not good, so I put the extra chocolate into other chocolate mould to make something else rather than washing if off. In my first lot of chocolate, I forget to press medium on the microwave and burn my chocolate so please be careful and never overheat the chocolate!

Aren't those bunnies adorable? They're so easy to make and you should try it!

Happy Easter!

Easter Bunny Popsticks
(make 4 each)

For the milk chocolate bunny:
120g milk chocolate
Hundred & Thousand sprinkles

For the milk top bunny:
30g white chocolate
90g milk chocolate

Method:

Wipe the mould clean with paper.
Melt chocolate in a microwave safe bowl on medium heat for 1 minute, then 30 second on medium heat until the chocolate is all melted.
Use a spoon to spoon chocolate into each mould until half full. Place a popstick into each mould, then tap onto the table to ease the air. Fill with more chocolate and tap again. Don't over fill and top with hundred & thousand sprinkles. Wipe clean and put into fridge for 15 minutes or until set.
For the milk top bunny: melt white chocolate on medium heat until melted. Spoon chocolate into mould, tap off air and then put into fridge to set. Meanwhile, melt the milk chocolate on medium heat and lay a popstick into each mould. Spoon the milk chocolate over the milk chocolate and keep in the fridge for about an hour or until set.

White Chocolate Fairy Cupcakes

2013-03-07T17:12:00.000-08:00

Princesses and fairies, didn't we grown up from these lovely imagination? When my daughter was little, she would wear her princess dress and crown to the shopping centre. Everyone would waved at my little SnowWhite. Her dress up box were filled with costumes, fairy wands and wings. When her little friends came over for a play, they all dress up and became princesses or fairies from the far far away land.

I also become the fairy, the tooth fairy when my kids lose their baby teeth. Kids wake up in the morning would find their teeth replaced by gold coins. One time, my daughter lost her tooth into the drain while brushing her teeth. We wrote a little note to the tooth fairy to explain everything and luckily she found it and a gold coin was rewarded. I often told them to brush their teeth probably because bad teeth would be taken by goblins. I would soon retired from being the tooth fairy as my daughter had grown up and my son only has a few teeth to lose. However, I probably will be the Easter buddy and Mrs Santa for a long time.

This white chocolate fairy cupcake had brought back many sweet memories to me..... and I made them for one of our staff's birthday because she had been a sweetheart to us.

White Chocolate Fairy Cupcakes
(make 12)

125g butter, softened
125g caster sugar
2 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla essence
125g self-raising flour
75g white choc chips
1 tablespoon milk

Topping and filling:
strawberry jam
thickened cream, whipped
strawberries, halves
edible glitter
mini sugared love hearts

Method:

Preheat oven to 190c. Place paper cases into a 12 hole muffin tin.
Beat butter and sugar until light and fluffy, add beaten eggs and vanilla essence until well mix.
Add in sifted flour and fold it into the mixture, stir in white choc chips. Add a tablespoon of milk or a little more to make a soft, dropping mixture.
Spoon the mixture into muffin cases until 2/3 full. Bake for 15 minutes or until a light golden brown.
Cool in wire-rack. When the cake is completely cooled, use a knife to cut along the top of the cake, take the top out and fill the inside with strawberry jam and cover the top.
Pipe the cream onto the cake starting from the side of the cake, topped with strawberries or love hearts, then sprinkle with glitter. Magic may be coming on its way!

Banana cake to share with my neighbour

2013-02-27T14:59:00.002-08:00

This banana cake is so moist and you must use four cavendish bananas and not less for the recipe. I've used two bananas or added chopped walnuts and it got too dry or too lumpy to eat. The best is to add a few walnuts on top and keep it as simple as it is. Nice to go along with a cuppa and it really remind me of the banana cake we had in Hong Kong.

I took this freshly baked cake to visit my neighbour for morning tea. He was diagnosed with a very rare cancer and undergoing chemo. His taste buds were gone but he could taste the bananas of this cake. I'm so pleased that he enjoyed my baking. It's only a little thing I could do to cheer him and his wife up. His wife had just recovered from cancer a few years ago and they decided to retire and enjoyed life a bit more. Unfortunately, bad luck has come along for them! Let's hope thing will get better for them after the treatments and God bless for them.

Simple Banana Cake

4 ripes bananas, mashed
1 1/2 cups plain flour
1/3 cup butter, melted
3/4 cup brown sugar
1 egg, beaten
1 tsp vanilla essence
1 tsp bicarbonate of soda
a pinch of salt
3 walnuts (optional)

Method:

Preheat the oven at 175c. Sift plain flour and bicarbonate of soda in a bowl.
Combine butter, egg, sugar and vanilla in another bowl, add the mashed banana, salt, then add the flour mixture. Stir till well combined.
Pour the mixture into a paper lined loaf tin. Top cake with three walnuts. Bake for 45 minutes or until the skewer comes out clean after inserting into the cake.

Source: banana cake from Christine's Recipes

Perfect Poached Eggs

2013-02-21T18:39:00.001-08:00

On the Sunday Market, there usually a stall run by the local community group selling sausage in bread or bacon & egg burger for fundraising. Egg is a cheap food with lots of nutrient. We love a big breakfast which consists of egg, bacon, sausage, toasted bread with tomato and mushroom for brunch or lunch on a lazy Sunday.

I have to thank Julie Goodwin for her advice in her cookbook, Our family table on how to make perfect poached eggs as I have given up making poached eggs so long ago. I think it's such a fuss playing with something so soft with hot water. She has a simple way to do to make a smooth egg with running yolk and if I'm not beware of my cholesterol, I could eat more than one egg! Opps!

Julie also mentioned that there are so many names for poached egg breakfast such as eggs Benedict is served with ham and English muffin in hollandaise sauce, eggs Royale is served with smoked salmon and eggs Florentine is served with spinach. I prefer my poached eggs with bacon with low fat honey mustard sauce on toasted turkish bread. What about you?

Perfect Poached Eggs

Pour water into a large non-stick deep pan till it is about 4cm of water (that would be enough to cover the egg), bring to the boil then lower the heat so the water is barely simmering.
Crack one egg gently on the side of the pan and carefully lower it into the water with a spatula. Then leave the egg by itself as the egg will gather the bilk of its white to itself and don't worry about the stringy floaty bits.
Crack another egg and do the same. Julie suggests you can cook 4 eggs at a time but I only do one or two at a time. You need to strain the water or replaced with fresh one after few batches.
After 3 minutes or when the egg whites looks cook through, lift the egg out with a slotted spoon and drain the excess water. Slide them straight onto the serving plate.

Last Minutes Almond Cookies for Chinese New Year (賀年杏仁餅)

2013-02-08T14:52:00.000-08:00

Happy Chinese New Year! If you are still busy preparing dinner for today but still want to make some homemade cookies to celebrate CNY, this is an easy recipe that don't need any cookies cutter, roasting and grounding nuts or jam making. And I can tell you these last minutes cookies taste better than the one that needs lots of effort to prepare!

祝大家新春大吉，萬事如意

Chinese Almond Cookies (杏仁酥餅)
(make about 45)

120g almond meal
180g plain flour
60g caster sugar
60g icing sugar
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon bicarbonate of soda
3/4 cup canola oil
beaten egg for brushing
almond flakes (optional)

Method:

Preheat oven at 180c. Lined baking trays with baking paper.
Sift the flour, icing sugar, baking powder and bicarbonate of soda into the mixing bowl, add the almond meal, sugar and salt. Combine all the dry ingredients and make a well in the middle. Gradually add oil to form a moist dough, add a little oil about 1 tablespoon at a time if needed until you shape into balls.
Roll cookies dough into small balls and press slightly with the back of a fork. Brush with egg and topped with almond flakes, then brush with more egg over. Bake for 15-20 minutes.

Note: The original recipe uses 120g caster sugar, it works well as well if you don't want to use two different types of sugar.

Source: adopted and modified from The Kitchen 70's

Salted Caramel Fudge

2013-02-01T14:18:00.000-08:00

With Chinese New Year around the corner (Feb 10), people that celebrate this biggest festival would be busy cleaning their houses for visitors, prepare delicious food for family and friends or planning a special trip for a holiday. To try to keep the Chinese tradition, I would prepare a candy tray at home for the visitors and make some cookies as gifts. Then there would be a special dinner on the New Year's Eve. Kids are looking forward to receive the red pockets filled with money given from the seniors. Chinese candy are dried and preserved fruit & nuts such as sweeten coconut, lotus seeds, pineapple and winter melon. My westernised candy tray usually filled with kids favourite from the lollies and chocolate in the supermarket.

Since I like fudge but never make it before, I think this would be something nice to put into my candy tray or wrap up as a gift. My husband takes them to work and people already giving it a thumb up! If you love something sweet, especially salted caramel, you'd love this recipe! You can omit the salt to make it as plain caramel instead.

Salted Caramel Fudge

I can condensed milk
1 cup less 2 tablespoons brown sugar
125g butter
2 tablespoons glucose syrup

(put later)
100g white chocolate bits
1/3 teaspoon rock salt

Method:
Put all ingredients except the chocolate and salt in a microwave safe bowl. Cook on high for 6 minutes, stir, then cook again for 2 more minutes till thick and golden. Remove from heat then add the white chocolate. Stir till all the chocolate is melted. Pour into a square pan and stand for 1 minute before sprinkle with rock salt. Set aside till set and cut with a warm knife.

Lamb Kebabs for the Australia Day

2013-01-25T20:51:00.001-08:00

It wouldn't go wrong to celebrate Australia Day with this lamb kebabs on the BBQ. One time I asked a visiting student from China who has spent a few days with the Australian family that what was the most memorable time she had in Australia. Her answer was the BBQ! The great thing of BBQ is that you throw in all sort of different things such as sausages, chops or prawns onto the BBQ and you talk and drink while cooking the food. The atmosphere is relaxing and food are cooked to your liking. And lamb, I would say it's the number one red meat that Aussie love!

Have a lovely Australia Day!

Lamb Kebabs
(make about 10)

500g trimmed lamb, cubed
mushroom, halves
onions, cubed
skewers

Marinade:
1 tablespoon paprika
1/2 teaspoon cumin seeds
2 teaspoons coriander seeds
2 tablespoons soy sauce
1/2 teaspoon garlic mince
cracked black pepper

Method:
Marinate the meat with the marinade for at least an hour. Spike each piece of meat alternatively with onion and mushroom (or capsicum). Pan fry it in the grill pan or on the BBQ, turing regularly till you get a nicely charred meat on the outside with juicy pink on the inside.

Source: adopted & modified rom the cookbook "jamie's kitchen" from Jamie Oliver.

Japanese Melon Bun (日式蜜瓜包)

2013-01-19T13:41:00.000-08:00

This Japanese melon bun is similar to Hong Kong's pineapple bun (香港菠蘿包), only it has a fair looking as it does not glaze with egg before baking. The cookie dough topping is not as flaky as the HK pineapple bun. And the texture is firmer and a little floury but it still very good after it has been a few days old. It is sometimes labelled as Japanese pineapple bun in some bakery. The name of the melon bun is derived from the rough cracking look of the cookie dough. The joy of eating this bun is liked having a milk bun topped with a soft cookie. And I really think it tastes like the Chinese's giant cookies (光酥餅). I have doubled the recipes to make 12 buns using the bread machine. If you want to watch the video kneading the bread by hand, please click here.

Japanese Melon Bun (日式蜜瓜包)
(make 12)

For the bread dough:
2 tablespoons egg
140ml milk
30g butter
70g sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt
280g bread flour
6g dried yeast

For the cookie dough topping:
50g butter
70g sugar
50g egg
160g plain flour
1/2 teaspoon baking powder

Method:

Following the sequence of the order from the bread dough, putting the ingredients into the bread machine, starting from the liquid and putting the yeast last.
Press the "dough" button. When it is ready, punch down to release excess air. Sprinkle some flour on the workbench and knead till the dough is smooth and not sticky. Divide the dough into 12 equal sized portions about 45g each. Make into bun shape and put onto 2 paper lined baking trays. Let it rest in a warm place (a warm oven) for about 45minutes or until it is double in size.
Meanwhile, prepare the cookie dough, mix the flour, baking powder and sugar together. Make a well in the middle, add the egg and mix well. Add the butter and knead till a soft dough form. Keep in the fridge for about 30 minutes.
Divide the cookie dough into 12 portions. Roll into round flat shape with a roller, then lay on top to cover the bun. Use a knife to mark a criss-cross patten on top. Let it rest in a warm place for another 30 minutes.
Bake in a preheated oven at 180c for about 15 minutes.

Asian Style Iced Milk Tea (中式凍奶茶)

2013-01-12T16:19:00.000-08:00

What does summer mean to you? Hot, lazy or nothing grow in the garden? We start the beginning of the year in the middle of summer and we have been having long hot summer this year with the temperature over 30c most of the days. Since it has been so dry with no rain, bushfire is happening in many places. You just want to hide yourself in the shade most of the time. Sitting at the veranda relaxing, I enjoy this refreshing iced milk tea to help to ease the heat. This is the type of tea you'll get at asian cafe using condensed milk and evaporated milk instead of fresh milk. Some people like to mix the tea with coffee and called it yuen-yang (鴛鴦), a bit like the mocha only it is a mix of coffee and chocolate.

Asian Style Iced Milk Tea
(make 1 tall glass)

Put hot water into a mug about 2/3 full with a ceylon tea bag. Let it rests till the tea is cool down a little and fully infused. Pour 1 1/2 tablespoon of condensed milk and 1 tablespoon of evaporated milk into a tall glass, add the tea and stir till well combined. Fill another tall glass with ice and pour the tea into the other glass and serve immediately. Enjoy!

Chinese Style Mango Pudding (eggless)

2013-01-04T21:26:00.000-08:00

Living in Australia, we always have mangoes for every Christmas. My husband would buy a whole tray of mangoes and the Bowen (Kensington) mango is my favourite as it is sweet with no fibre in the flesh. When I was about 9 or 10 years old while living in Hong Kong, I tried to open the seed of the mango thinking there would be something fantastic inside since the flesh of mango tasted so nice. Of course, I found nothing interesting there but every summer we would enjoy at least a whole tray of mangoes.

When I went to Yum Cha in Sydney, the waitress was pushing the food trolly with mango pudding and mango crepes around the tables. Mango is a really nice fruit to make into dessert. I like this pudding recipe from Christine's Recipes as it is eggless and light. After all the big feast we had from Christmas, this is a simple and nice dessert to have for the hot summer! With the summer holiday having kids at home, why not get them to help making this yummy dessert?

Chinese Style Mango Pudding (eggless)
(make 4)

1 packet of 85g mango flavour jelly crystal
90ml milk
40ml evaporated milk
110ml hot water
55ml cold water (boiled)
2 large mangoes

Method:

Dissolve the jelly crystal with the hot water, then add the cold water. Stir in the milk and the evaporated milk.
Pour the jelly mixture into four glasses.
Cut one of the mangoes into cubes and add into the jelly mixture. Keep into the fridge for 2-3 hours or until the pudding is set.
Cut the remaining mango into cubes and add to the pudding before serving.

As this dessert is not very sweet, it is best to consume as it is. I have tried to serve it with ice-cream, the sweetness of ice-cream covers the taste of mango which is not a recommended combination.

Merry Christmas

2012-12-21T15:37:00.002-08:00

So it is Christmas again! I have just come back from my trip to Sydney and need sometime to unwind myself before I'm ready for more food and laughter!

It has been a very busy month of the year with my son's graduation from primary school and attending our cousin's wedding within the same week. I was totally exhausted after looking my son from food poisoning and lucky he was just able to get onto the plane to attend the wedding. He has missed out the last two days of school but he is looking forward to meet his friends and making new friends in high school next year! I have to stop regarding my son as "my little boy" as he is catching up my height and I don't know where does the time fly!

One of the highlight of our trip is to visit the Zumbo at the Star City. They have a dessert bar opens from 6pm. We bought some takeaway cakes and macaroons then went to have gelato at the other store. You can see the eight layers clearly after cutting the mini V8 cake, I'm just amazed by the combination of flavour and technique. If you are Adriano Zumbo's fan from Masterchef, this is one of the place to visit!

This Christmas would be an easy one and I'm not cooking any new recipe as my energy level is still charging! Have a Merry Christmas and lets hope everyone have a great 2013!

mini cake

Donut and chocolate flavours

V8 and Chocolate Mousse Cake

Strawberry Devil's Food Cake

2012-12-02T02:50:00.000-08:00

It has been two years since I decide to bake birthday cake for my family. I really regret that I do not make cakes for my kids' first birthday and all these years relying on buying cakes from the store. Cakes from the bakery may taste better or look nicer, however home bake cake is always special that you make it with your heart! Don't you agree!

I have been longed to make Devil's food cake so I take the chance to make it for my son's birthday as chocolate is his favourite! He also love strawberries and it is such a good match to the chocolate.

The name of angle food cake comes from the white colour from the egg white while devil's food cake comes from the dark colour from the chocolate. It is interchangeable with rich chocolate cake, the only different is that it is made with soda bicarbonate and water (my recipe used soda bicarbonate and milk) Originally it is made with grated beetroot to get the red colour so some recipes would add in red colouring as well. So it is quite liked the red velvet cake with dark frosting!

My kids has started the summer holiday and we'll be going to Sydney for a wedding next week! I'm so looking forward for a break!!

Strawberry Devil's Food Cake

90g dark cooking chocolate
115g unsalted butter
90g dark brown sugar
1 tablespoon golden syrup
175g plain flour
25g cocoa powder
1/2 teaspoon bicarbonate of soda
2 eggs
1/2 teaspoon vanilla essence
90ml milk

For the icing:
150ml milk
100g caster sugar
60g dark chocolate
60g butter
1/2 teaspoon vanilla essence
fresh strawberries and chocolate flakes

Method:

Preheat oven to 170c and paper-lined a 20cm round cake pan.
Melt butter, chocolate, sugar and syrup in pan, let it cool aside.
Sift dry ingredients into a bowl, then add the chocolate mixture, stir in beaten eggs, vanilla essence and milk. Mix well.
Bake 30-35 mins or until the skewer comes out clean after inserting. Cool cake at the cake wire.
For the icing: boil milk and sugar until syrupy, it will look like thinned condensed milk. Do not stir once the sugar is dissolved. Remove from pan and stir in chocolate, butter and vanilla essence. Beat until thick, keep the icing mixture into the fridge until spreadable.
To Deco the cake: cool cake completely, spilt the cake into half horizontally. Spread 1/3 of the icing on the top of the first layer, then lay around with sliced strawberry. Top with another layer and spread the rest of the icing on the top and side of the cake. Sprinkle some chocolate flakes over and deco with some fresh strawberries in the middle. Keep cake in fridge till the icing is settled.

Source: Adopted and modified from the cookbook "Easy Baking - Cakes, biscuits, pies & bread" from Linda Collister

Orange Chiffon Cake

2012-11-16T20:34:00.003-08:00

I have given up making chiffon cake years ago as I never be able to make a good one. It is such a simple looking cake without icing and what you only need to succeed making it is to get the airy texture and stay in shape. Overlooking my failure is due to not having the right baking tin and good recipe. My luck finally comes after searching through the internet and get a few tips, then combined two recipes to make this first ever so called a "passed" chiffon cake! (Well, it has been few hours after making the cake and it is still in good shape) The tip to achieve a good result is to invert the pan on the cake rack and leave it cooled before release the cake from tin. The gravity helps to keep the cake in shape.

Many people said that chiffon cake was liked angel food cake (one of the cake I've never made either). The cooking steps are very much the same except that angel food cake is cooked without oil and egg yolk. Chiffon cake is very poplar in Asia as many Asian prefer vegetable oil than butter as used in most western cake. When I went to Malaysia the first time, I found out that many of their cakes are green in colour. My husband told me that they were pandan cake which use pandan leaves to make the juice to give the fragrant and colour as what they called Asian vanilla. As pandan leaf is not easy to get here and my husband is never happy with the taste of pandan essence, I choose to use orange flavour this time.

Although Asian has created many flavours in chiffon cake, it is actually created by an American Insurance Agent, Harry Baker in 1927 and he kept the recipe as a secret until he sold it to General Mills in 1947. He must be very determined to keep a secret for 20 years and make a profit from it. If you're interested in the history of chiffon cake, please click here.

Orange Chiffon Cake

Egg yolk mix:
5 egg yolks
20g caster sugar
100g cake flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
60g orange juice
1 tablespoon orange rind
3 tablespoon vegetable oil

Egg white mix:
5 egg whites
80g caster sugar
1/2 teaspoon cream of tartar

Method:

Preheat oven at 170c. Beat egg yolks with sugar, add oil and mix well. Stir in orange juice, rind and sifted flour and baking powder.
Beat egg whites with electric mixer until frothy, gradually add in sugar and cream of tarter in 2 batches. Beat until stiff.
Fold egg white into flour mixture in 2 batches. Pour mixture in a lightly greased tube pan (some say don't grease the pan but I still grease a little, just in case the cake got stuck) Tap the pan at the kitchen bench a few time to release bubbles.
Bake about 35 to 40 minutes. Gently invert pan on cake wire and leave cool. Run a spatula around side of pan to release cake.

Beetroot Chutney

2012-11-05T16:10:00.000-08:00

After making several bottles of jam a few months ago, I want to try making chutney and preserve. Beetroot is one of my favourite purple vegetable, however it does stain your hand after handling. So if I only get my hands dirty for once and enjoy the chutney for a few months in a bottle, that's not a bad idea! It's also a nice gift for Christmas.

I serve it with turkey minced burger and it is tasty enough that you can skip the tomato sauce!

Beetroot Chutney
(make 2 bottles, about 3 cups)

3 beetroot (500g)
1 teaspoon ground cumin
1/2 cinnamon stick
2 cardamon pods, bruised
2 green apples (400g), chopped
1/2 red onion (85g), finely chopped
1 cm ginger, chopped
1 garlic glove, finely chopped
1/2 cup white sugar
1 cup white vinegar
1 tablespoon lemon juice
1/2 teaspoon salt

Method

Keep the skin on the beetroot and cook with boiling water in pan or microwave till cook. Use a fork to poke into the beetroot, if it gets in then it's ready. Drain.
Cool then peel the skin off. You can wear gloves to prevent the juice stain on you hands.
Chop half the beetroot into fine dice, blend the remaining beetroot till smooth.
Put the beetroot puree, apple, onion, ginger, garlic, sugar, vinegar, lemon juice and salt in a saucepan. Add in spices (you can tie spices in muslin bag), make it to the boil, then simmer for 30 minutes. Add chopped beetroot and simmer for 10 minutes more.
Store chutney in sterilised jar and it can keep in the fridge for 3 months.

Source: modified and adopted from the cookbook, "The Australian Women's Weekly: Classic Preserves Jams Chutneys Relishes"

Almost a Vegan Chocolate Cupcake and Pink October

2012-10-05T16:18:00.002-07:00

A little while ago I went to a friend's birthday party and tried her daughter's vegan cupcakes and vegan birthday cakes. It looks not much difference to the other non-vegan cakes and it tastes moist and nice. I like the glossy shine of her icing using extra virgin coconut oil which you won't get from any other kinds of oil. I always think that vegetarian are good cook as normal restaurant may not meet their needs, and they have made their life healthy and be kind to the animals.

I search the recipes for the vegan cupcake and frosting from the internet. I decide to use butter and milk for my frosting as I know the name of vegan cupcake may scare my family away. The rich ganache goes well with the light moist cake, so next time when you want to make a cake but there are no eggs in the fridge, try this vegan chocolate cake. It won't make you disappointed!

October is dedicated to bring the awareness for breast cancer, I would like to take this opportunity to ask you to do a simple thing. Do a self breast examination and keep it as a monthly routine. If you're over 40, take a mammogram and ultra-sound for your breasts. If there is any suspicious lump or discharge from your nipples, seek for medical advice without hesitation. Don't ask your husband as they just don't know! I have been through that and it's only early detection can saved your life. Breast cancer don't only happen to old people or a particular race! Let us all beat the cancer and support those that are having treatment be well and healthy soon!

Please share this message with your girlfriends to bring out more awareness of breast cancer!

Vegan Chocolate Cupcake

1 1/4 cups plain flour
3/4 cup castor sugar
1/4 cup brown sugar
1/3 cup cocoa powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup warm water
1 teaspoon vanilla
1/3 cup vegetable oil
1 teaspoon apple cider

For the ganache:
1 cup dark choc chips
1/4 cup evaporated milk or more if needed
2 teaspoon butter or margarine
1/2 cup icing sugar

Method:

Mix dry ingredients in a bowl. Then mix the wet ingredients in another bowl. Pour the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients and mix well. Spoon the batter into cupcake cases and baked about 30 minutes in a preheat oven at 180c.
For the ganache: Microwave the choc chips and butter in a bowl, add the evaporated milk and icing sugar. Stir until the frosting is well mixed, add a little bit more milk if needed to get the right consistency. Garnish the cake with some coloured choc chips.

Source: http://www.instructables.com/id/The-BEST-chococlate-cake-ever...that-happens-to-be/
http://www.theyummylife.com/Chocolate_Frosting

Blueberry Muffins and Pink October

2012-10-03T16:43:00.000-07:00

If you have tried to bake with fresh blueberries then you'll know the difference between the fresh and the frozen one. You won't get the cloudy blue in the batter with the fresh one. Blueberry is high in anti-oxidiant with many health benefits and my favourite recipes for blueberry include blueberry pancake with maple syrup and blueberry with yoghurt and muesli.

My blueberry trees are blooming and when fresh blueberry is available, I alway make blueberry muffin as you know the fresh one always taste the best! I make this muffin using the recipe of my first post apple and cinnamon muffins, please click for recipe. I use it as a base recipe for various muffins, simply substitute the apple for blueberries. The other good combination is mixed berries with white chocolate. One of the blogger mentioned that muffin was liked a country girl (true and honest) and cupcake was liked a city girl. (dressing up) Which one do you prefer?

October is dedicated to bring the awareness for breast cancer, I would like to take this opportunity to ask you to do a simple thing. Do a self breast examination and keep it as a monthly routine. If you're over 40, take a mammogram and ultra-sound for your breasts. If there is any suspicious lump or discharge from your nipples, seek for medical advice without hesitation. Don't ask your husband as they just don't know! I have been through that and it's only early detection can saved your life. Breast cancer don't only happen to old people or a particular race! Let us all beat the cancer and support those that are having treatment be well and healthy soon!

Please share this message with your girlfriends to bring out more awareness of breast cancer!

Red Bean Moon Cake with Flaky Pastry (紅豆螺絲酥皮月餅)

2012-09-15T16:22:00.001-07:00

Last week I went to school to help out the hospitality students to understand cultural diversity. Six of the parents participate all came from different background including Thai, Indian, German, South African, Italian and Chinese. One of the thing we were taking about was the festival celebration, and I mentioned that lots of Chinese dessert for celebration was round as the roundness mean smooth and harmony. The Chinese Moon Festival is coming up on 30 September and I got the idea making this flaky pastry mooncake from my mother-in-law when she posted her taro mooncake on FB.

I always have difficulty in making the swirl looking flaky pastry and I got the step-by-step instruction from Cherri, ch3rri blossoms. I use canola oil instead of shortening as it is a healthier oil and I baked it instead of deep fry. The other popular flavour for the mooncake include taro, green tea and lotus. Moon cake usually has an salted duck egg yolk inside the filling, I have opted that out as I prefer it eggless.

The Moon Festival is the second biggest festival besides the Chinese New Year. People give mooncake as a gift and everyone gather together for a family dinner on a full moon night. A true happiness for me is to enjoy the time with my family, just as simple as that.

Red Bean Moon Cake with Flaky Pastry
(make 16)

Ingredients:

Filling:
red bean paste (store brought)

Water dough:
200g plain flour
1/2 teaspoon white vinegar
50g canola oil
30g sugar
100g water

Oil dough:
180ml plain flour
100g canola oil

Method:

Roll the red bean paste into 16 golf ball sized balls.
For the water dough; mix all together to form a dough, rest 20 minutes. Then divide into 4 equal portions.
For the oil dough; mix all together to form a soft dough, divide into 4 equal portions.
Flatten the water dough and place the oil dough into the middle and wrap around it. Do not flour the bench as the dough is oily enough and will not stick to the table.
Roll out the dough into a long shape, fold half from the short side, then fold over to the right. Roll out one more time.
Then roll into a swiss roll from the long side, cut into 4 pieces.
Roll each piece flat into a round shape, about the size of the dumping pastry. Place a piece of red bean paste into the middle, wrap around to form a ball and seal the bottom. Repeat for the rest of the dough.
Preheat oven at 170c. Place the mooncake sealed size down onto the paper lined baking tray(s), bake 25 mins or until brown.

Source: http://ch3rri-blossoms.blogspot.com.au/2009/12/flaky-taro-pastry.html

water dough and oil dough

Flatten water dough and oil dough on top

Oil dough wrapped inide of the water dough

1st time roll out

roll half from long side

roll half to the right

2nd time roll out

cut into 4 pieces

Roll flat and fill with filling

ready to bake!