JesleyCooks

Beetroot Butter Cake

2012-12-20T00:34:00.003+08:00

I managed to bake this cake again tonight and just realised I had forgotten to share the recipe here. The previous posts were earlier this year when we celebrated hubby's birthday part I, part II and part III .

Recipe as follow (derived from Kevin Chai's 'I Love Butter Cake' baking recipes book, also my very first baking book and its a great one) :

Ingredients :
200g butter
150g margarine
250g caster sugar (I used 100g only)
1/4tsp salt (I used only a pinch)
5 eggs
200g grated beetroot
220g plain flour
100g grounded hazelnut (I used almond powder)
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp bicarbonate of soda (Optional, I didnt add but it doesnt taste any different and the cake still rise nicely)

Method :
- Preheat oven to 180 degree C.
- Beat butter, margarine, sugar and salt until light and fluffy.
- Add in eggs, one at a time, beating thoroughly after each addition.
- Add in grated beetroot, mix well. fold in shifted flour, ground hazelnut, baking powder and soda. Mix until well blended. Pour into baking trays.
- Bake in oven for approx. 50 mins.

Enjoy!

Jesley

Homemade Original Chicken-Chop With Chicken Sausage & Fries Set.

2012-02-10T23:58:00.001+08:00

Preparing grilled or pan-fried meal has been easier eversince I owned a HappyCall pan. Though its not a very healthy choice, at least the method its prepared is way much more healthier as compared with what we get from the fast food restaurant.

The ingredients are:
4 de-boned chicken drumsticks
4 chicken sausages
Half a packet of Farmland premium fries
Iceberg baby lettuce and cherry tomatoes (wash thoroughly & set aside)
Gouda cheese
Slices of lemon

I marinated the deboned chicken drumstick with salt and leave it in the fridge overnight. Take it out from the fridge 30 mins before cooking to return it to room temperature. Pat dry with kitchen paper towel & sprinkled some black pepper on both sides of the drumsticks and set aside.

Heat the hcp under low flame & put in part of the frozen fries(no need to defross) to fry. I flip and at the same time use a tong to turn the fries so that every sides are evenly fried. All done without a single drop of oil. Set aside and sprinkled with some salt. Continue till all fries are done.

Pan fried the chicken sausages without oil too till slightly browned on all sides. Set aside.

Wipe the pan clean with a damp kitchen paper towel. Heat up the pan with medium low flame. Without adding any oil, put the deboned chicken drumstick with the skin face down first(noted that I didnt coat it with any flour). Patiently fry till its slightly brown then turn it over and continue to fry till its browned and cook on the other side. By then the pan will be filled with oils from the chicken meat itself. Turn the flame higher & fry the skin side of the chicken for a while before turning off the fire & take it out. This way the skin will be crispy when its serves.

Arrange the food as shown in the picture above and serve immediately with some ketchup and chilli sauce or mayonaise.

Black Pepper Salmon Butter Fried Rice Wrapped in Egg Sheet

2012-02-10T14:49:00.001+08:00

I simply love my HappyCall pan. Preparing the egg sheet is so easy now & the shape is just nice to hold a bowl of fried rice & a piece of cheese inside.

Ingredients :
(Fried rice)
1 bowl of plain white rice(leftover)
A thin slice of salmon - diced (roughly about half of the small rice bowl)
2 small stalk of green spring onion - diced
1 small onion - diced
Minced garlic
Pinch of salt & black pepper
A tsp of butter
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
(Egg sheet) - Prepare in a bowl & beat all ingredient below together:

2 eggs - beaten
Pinch of salt & pepper
Tapioca flour - 1 tbsp + 3 tbsp water (mix well)

Method :

Heat up the pan, add in butter. Once it started to melt, add in the minced garlic & chopped onion & once slightly browned, add in the rice & mix well.
Followed by the diced salmon. Once the salmon turn reddish, add in a pinch of salt & black pepper. Mix well. Lastly, add in some finely diced green spring onion, ready & set aside.

Wipe the pan with a piece of kitchen towel. Spray some oil on the surface of the pan. Under low flame, slowly pour the egg mixture into the pan from one corner. Tilt the pan slowly so that the egg covers the whole pan as shown in the picture below.

When the egg sheet is still half done, scoope some pre-fried rice & place it as shown above, topped with a piece of cheese (sometimes, I'll add in some Lim Chee Guan seaweed & sesame chicken floss).Then carefully fold the egg sheet in half & lightly press the corners to stick the sides together(as the egg is still soft, it will be easily stick together & form a pocket that holds the rices nicely inside.)

Turn the flame slightly higher so that the egg sheet in nicely browned. If you are confident enough, you may wish to cover the pan & tilt it one side before turning the pan to fry the upper side of the folded egg sheet.

Serve whilst its hot. Squeeze some mayonaise & tomato sauce & add in some blanched broccoli & carrots. Its another simple & healthy meal again.

Isn't it beautiful?

The cheese is melted & mixed well into the rice.

Enjoy!

Simple Chicken Sausage Mayo Bread Roll.

2012-02-09T13:51:00.000+08:00

It has been some times since I last updated my blog. I managed to squeeze some time to write this short & simple to make dish before I send my little one for his afternoon nap.

Again, its only me & Vance at home for lunch today. Instead of the usual meal of porridge or fried rice, I decided to make something from what is left from the CNY steamboat treats last Sun.

Ingredients:
3 slices of plain white bread
Mayonaise
Brown sugar
3 Chicken sausages
3 Pieces of cheese (I use Chesdales)
1 beaten egg

Method:
- Rolled over the white bread to flatten on all sides.
- Squeeze some mayonaise & spread it evenly on the bread.
- Sprinkled some brown sugar over the bread.
- Place a piece of cheese on the bread nearer to the edge that u are going to start rolling & put chicken sausage & roll it up as tightly as you can. Careful not to squeeze out the mayonaise.
- Carefully coat with the beaten egg.
- Under low flame, put the coated bread to fry slowly (I used happycall pan w/o any oil).Turning only when the side is browned. Turn with a tong to ensure all sides are evenly cooked.

Cut it into half & sprinkle with more brown sugar & serve whilst hot.

Enjoy!

2 way Spicy sweet & sour fried anchovies/ikan bilis.

2011-10-29T21:57:00.002+08:00

Spicy sweet & sour fried anchovies with strawberries.

Original spicy sweet & sour fried ikan bilis.

This is one of the all time favourite at home. It may look simple but its really not easy to fry the dried anchovies/ikan bilis till nicely done and crispy.

Ingredients for Original Spicy Sweet & Sour Ikan Bilis :

1 or 2 bowl of dried ikan bilis/anchovies(silver fish) - wash and pat dry with kitchen towel

2 medium red onion - halves and slice

3 chilli padi/1 red chilli (depend on preference) - slice into small circles

2 to 3big tbsp of white sugar

2 limau kasturi/ half a lime - squeeze the juice and discard the seeds

Firstly, for ikan bilis, halves it and take out the bone and organ(the black thingy). Then wash and pat dry with kitchen towel. For dried anchovies(silver fish) just wash and pat dry. Heat up some oil under medium heat and add in the ikan bilis. There will be a stage whereby you will notice bubble starts to form. Don't worry, continue to stir until the bubbles disappear and make sure to turn off the fire immediately. Prepare a wide plate and place some kitchen towels on it and place the fried ikan bilis on it to suck away the excess oil. Set aside.

In the same wok, stir-fry the onion and chillies till frangrance and add in the fried ikan bilis. TURN OFF the flames and add in the sugars. Toss and mix well. Lastly add in the lime/lemon juice.

(The ingredients and method are the same for the strawberry version. Simply add in the strawberries before adding in the sugar. Followed the lime juice.)

I decided to cook the strawberry version today because the red delicious looking strawberrries are on sales in the supermarket. I am too greedy and bought 3 boxes which turned out to be really sour ones. This is a refreshing dish. Trust me! Give it try!

Enjoy!

Happy Mooncake

2011-10-03T23:06:00.000+08:00

I am very busy recently that only now, can I finally manage to squeeze some times to update the recipe for the cute piglet mooncakes that I had posted previously and I will name it the Happy Mooncake coz I am really happy and having fun when I am moulding and playing with the dough.

Recipes for the mooncake dough (Derived and modified from Famous Cuisine Magazine no.51 Jul/Aug 2008) :

300g low protein/plain flour
250g golden syrup (I used Lyle's Golden Syrup)
1 1/2 tsp alkaline water
25g peanut oil

Topping : (beaten)
1 whole egg + 1 egg yolk.

Method :

1. Mix golden syrup with peanut oil and alkaline water, gradually add in plain flour, mix until well combines and soft.

2. Wrap the soft dough with cellophane paper, rest it for 1 day or overnight. (I just put mine in the mixing bowl and cover with cellophane paper.

I used store bought low sugar white lotus paste and low sugar peppermint chocolate almond paste from KCT. Choose the filling according to preference. Prepare the dough and paste according to 1:4 ratio. Which means 20% dough and 80% filling. Prepare according to the size of the moon cake that you prefers to make.

Measure and prepare the dough and paste and shape into balls.

Dust some flour on the worktop and flatten the dough balls and wraps the paste balls nice and evenly. After that, shape it into any animal charactors that you like.

Enjoy and have fun!

Mini Dancing Piglet Mooncakes and many more.

2011-09-04T23:38:00.002+08:00

Three mini dancing piglets. Its wearing cute tutu and are simply adorable, don't u agreed?

The backside view of the three mini dancing piglet. (lolz...)

These mini piglets are sooooo adorable. I really hope I can preserve and keep them forever.

Hand Moulding Piglets Mooncakes

2011-09-03T02:12:00.004+08:00

It has been a long time since I last updated my blog. I am so glad to be able to present to everybody my cute little piglets after so long. However, I am all too tired to continue tonight as its almost 3am, way past my sleeping time. Been moulding, decorating and baking the mooncakes for the whole day today. I will just share with everybody some pictures here.

To be Continued...lolz...

Moulded, shaped and getting ready to decorate every little piglets.

9 little beauty piglets tagging behind Mr Casanova piglet(did I forget to mention that it is made by my eldest boy? His piglet has got toes whereas mine don't).

This is the 2nd batch and notice that they are rounder and cuter than the earlier one. Miss piglets! Get ready, smile and cheeze! (for my hp camera..lolz)

This is taken right after baking. Noticed that its lighter brown? Well, usually the colour will get darker and the piglets will have a nice sheen after that. Its recommended that the mooncake be consumed only after the 3rd day whereby the process of oiling will give the cake a nicer sheen and softer texture.

Love them so much. Simply adorable.

Look at this expression!

I am moulding and smiling from within my heart because these piglets are simply adorable. Hope they brighten up your day like they did mine!!! Cheers!!!

Braised Duck (Lor Ark)

2011-07-02T23:13:00.003+08:00

Great Miso Soup Ideas.

2011-05-19T23:05:00.001+08:00

I find that I can simply just play around by changing different ingredients everytime and add a few tbsp of miso into the soup and the kids will never get bored with having the soup quite often. It all depends on what are the other dish that I am preparing for that meal. If I cook other dishes of seafood and meat, then I will prepare what I have for dinner tonight as shown in the first picture below. If I have other vegetables dishes but not meat or fish, then I will prepare miso with some fishball or chicken fillet strips and so on. Just be creative and try new mehods.

The picture below is just miso with 1 box of soft silken toufu cubes, fresh chinese yam (huai shan) cubes, carrots also cut into cubes and dried seaweeds. For method of cooking, just refer to the fishball link above. Its the same. Just different ingredients used.

The other day, I prepare miso with ready ingredients available in my fridge on a lazy day. Its just some minced meat (marinate with light soy sauce, sesame oil and corn flour), 1 big carrot, 2 small potatoes, 1 corn on the cob (cut the flesh), a beaten egg and a stalk of shanghai green (cut thinly and add in lastly). My little one love it, so do the elder brother and sister because they love corn. This way, they get to eat their favourite corns easily together with the soup and don't get the flesh stuck to their teeth and without getting their hands dirty. The corns also adds some natural sweetness to the soup and it smells really nice!

Its just my way of experimenting with food. Just a way to make sure my kids have a balance diet of meat and vegetables.

Pan-fried Mackerel(Ikan Selar) With Grated White Radish (Fresh Daikon)

2011-05-19T22:35:00.003+08:00

Another simple to prepare dish.

The ingredients are:

2 fresh medium size Mackerel (Ikan Selar)

Salt

Corn flour

Fresh white radish

Slices of fresh lemon

Some light soy sauce

Cut, deskinned and grated about 10cm of fresh white radish. Place the grated radish in a fine sieve and put it briefly under running water. Then drain away the bitter juice. Shape it into a small ball and set aside.

Cleaned and pat dry the fresh mackerel with some kitchen towel. Marinate with some salt and set aside for an hour and wipe off with kitchen towel and lightly coat with some corn flour. Pat off excess flour.

In a clean wok/pan, heat up some oil and make sure the surface of the wok/pan are coated with the oil. Fry in medium flames. Refrain from turning the fish too early to avoid tearing the skin. Just add more oil if the wok/pan gets too dry. Turn to the other side and fry til brown and crispy. This method is good and uses less oil. Just make sure the fish is dry to avoid the oil from spattering all over the stove area. Once done, squeeze some lemon juice over the fish before serving. Decorate the dish with the grated radish ball and a few slices of pickled daikon.

Add the grated radish with some soy sauce for dipping.

Prepared some miso soup and sambal sotong too for dinner tonight.

Enjoy!

I love cupcakes!

2011-05-17T16:20:00.001+08:00

I was browsing through my picture folders when I found some of the nice cupcakes pictures that I have make before. I just want to share with everybody some of the nice pictures that I have here.

Simple Baked Cheese Cake

2011-05-17T01:39:00.007+08:00

Been feeling rather lazy to bake because of the hot weather recently. I am craving for cheese cake today and yet eversince I know how to bake, I really don't feel like buying from the shop. I was searching around until I found this great and simple recipe. Its easy to bake the cake because the ingredients are so simple and easy to find.

Everything falls in place nicely today. After sending Vance to his kindergarten, I reached home and put the packet of Sunshine garlic bread to bake in the oven at 170 C. I just want to save time and at the same time, preheat the oven to the required temperature. Then I start to prepare the required ingredients for the cake that I am going to bake today. I had prepared the biscuits crust base a day earlier and let it set in the fridge. When I am done mixing all the ingredients and pour it into the crust to bake together in the oven, its time for me to take out the garlic bread toast to enjoy with my cup of strong espresso with fresh milk while the cake is baking. Then its time to prepare for lunch before going out to fetch the little monster home again. All in just 3 hrs time.

The recipe is as below.

Ingredients :

(Biscuit base)

Digestive biscuit (5pcs)

Melted butter (20g)

* Crust all the biscuits and mixed well with the butter before pressing it firmly on a lined 15cm removable cake tin. Put it back to the fridge to let it set (can be done one day in advance).

(Cheese cream paste)

Philadelphia cream cheese 8oz (1pkt)

Sour cream (30g)

Castor sugar (60g)

2 eggs (beaten)

Fresh cream (100ml)

In a clean bowl, use a whisk to beat the cream cheese (put under room temperature to soften in advance, so that its easier to mash) and lightly mashed till creamy. Add in the sour cream and sugar and mix well till the sugar disolved and well blended. Then slowly add in the beaten egg, a little at a time and make sure its well blended in with the cream everytime.

Lastly, add in the fresh cream slowly in two portion, making sure each portion is mixed well into the cream. Mix it until the texture is creamy and thick. Pour into the biscuit crust in the baking tin and put to bake at 170C preheat oven for 1hr or till the surface is brown and well expanded.

I should have taken the picture of the freshly baked cheese cake. Its very nice and high but once cooled, it is normal for the cheese cake to shrink to the size you see in the pictures above. Once is cooled, put it into the refrigerator to chill for one day before serving. Haha... usually its impossible because everyone will be asking when they can eat and I always let it chill for only an hour or 2 and before long, the whole cake will be gone.

Before serving, I decorated the top with some extra cream cheese icing and a fresh strawberry. It is simply delicious. Isnt it easy to prepare? Hope everyone can give it a try and tell me if you love it. We do! Enjoy!

Pork Luncheon Meat Fried Rice with XO Sauce.

2011-05-02T14:11:00.005+08:00

I had purposely reserved half portion of the pork luncheon meat I used for last night's dish for what I am going to prepare for lunch today. I had also prepared more rice last night.(Overnight rice are used for fried rice because in this way, the rice won't turn out too sticky and affect the taste of the dish.) Crack 2 eggs into the cold overnight plain rice and mix well. This is to give the plain rice a nice yellow colour and of course, the rice will taste better too.

Simply cut the pork luncheon meat into smaller cubes and prepare one or two diced onion. Then prepare some minced garlic. Of course you may add in some finely chopped red chillies and green spring onion (I have run out of those in my fridge today) to make the dish more colourful and appetizing.

Simply prepare these 3 ingredients. (half portion of the pork luncheon meat cut into smaller cubes, 2 medium size onion diced and some minced garlic)

Crack in 2 eggs and mix it well with the cold overnight plain rice.

XO Sauce - its a fabulous sauce that will surely enhance the taste of the fried rice.

Now, heat up some oil, throw in the minced garlic and fry till frangrance. Crack in a beaten egg and let it set slightly before mashing it up and add in the pork luncheon meat and onions. Stir fry till the pork luncheon meat are brown and crisp. Its now ready to add in the plain rice coated with eggs. Add in 3 tbsp of the XO sauce. Keep folding and mix well and season with some white pepper powder and a little bit of light soy sauce just to enhance the flavor. Don't put too much light soy sauce or the fried rice will turn out too salty because the XO sauce and the pork luncheon meat are already salty. Keep folding and press with the spatula, making sure the rice is nicely browned and fluffy.

Yummy fried rice with pork luncheon meat, XO sauce and fried egg.

I always like to prepare some fried eggs to go with the fried rice. Topped with some homemade dried shrimp sambal.Yummm....

Special Baked Bean Meal.

2011-05-01T21:37:00.004+08:00

Its another lazy Sunday. I decided to prepare a quick all in one dish that has been the kids' all time favourite.

Prepare the ingredients as shown in the first 2 pictures and we are ready for tonight's dinner.

Firstly, heat up some oil and fry the diced carrot and potatoes till light brown. Remove from the wok. Next, fry the diced pork luncheon meat and set aside. Add some oil and fry the garlic till frangrance. Then add in the minced meat(can be replaced with fresh prawns) and chopped onion. Toss in the carrot and potatoes and diced luncheon meat together with the can of light baked bean.

Use the empty can to measure the amount of hot water (1can) and pour it into the wok. Stir and mix well. Season with some Maggi tomato & chilli sauce, a dash of the Lea & Perkin sauce and some oyster sauce. Then add in a pinch of sugar and some sesame oil.

Let it simmer in low flame for 15mins or till the potatoes and carrots are soften. Turn off the fire and fold in the beaten egg. Lastly, add in the chopped green spring onion and its ready.

Serve with piping hot fragrant rice.

Fried Vermicelli Noodles

2011-05-01T19:41:00.002+08:00

Fried egg chopped coarsely.

Fried Glass Vermicelli Noodles

Prepare the simple ingredients as shown in the first and second pictures above. Soften some dried glass vermicelli noodles in water, drained and set aside.

Heat up some oil in a wok. Stir fry the sliced shallots and minced garlic until frangrance, follow by the carrots and mushrooms. Add more oil if its too dry, keep frying for awhile then add in the chicken meats. Stir-fry till the meat turns white and add in the glass noodles. Season with some light soy sauce and fish sauce. Add some dark soy sauce to give the glass noodles a deeper brown. Lastly add in the coarsely chopped fried eggs sheets, chinese parsley and green spring onion strips and mixed well. (Slowly mix all the ingredients and seasoning well under low heat because the glass noodles will get to stick on the wok easily if the heat is too high)

Serve hot. Enjoy!

Yummy Yam Rice

2011-04-28T13:41:00.001+08:00

Add caption

Ingredients :

1. Half a yam (diced and fried)
2. Half small bowl of dried shrimps (soak with hot water for 30mins, then pat dry and chopped finely or just grind it finely)
3. 2-3 dried shitake mushroom (soak with hot water till soft, then pat dry with a kitchen towel and finely diced)
4. 1 chicken breast meat (cut into small cubes or shredded, marinate with some corn flour)
5. 2 cups of pearl white rice. (washed and drained)
6. 1 clove of minced garlic
7. 4 shallots (shredded)
8. Finely chopped fresh spring onion or chinese parsley

Seasoning :
1 tbsp of oyster sauce
Fish sauce
Pinch of sugar
Light soy sauce
Dark soy sauce
White pepper powder
Sesame seeds oil

Methods :

Heat up some oil in the wok, fry the shallots and minced garlics till lightly browned and frangrance. Add in the grinded dried shrimps and keep tossing till the shrimps are cooked and add in the mushrooms and chicken meat. Mix well. Lastly add in rice and keep stirring and add in the seasoning according to preference. Add some sesame oil to enhance the flavor of the rice.

Scoop up the rice and put to cook with the rice cooker. Add water to the level where the water a just slightly over the top of the rice(or just enough to cover the rice completely). Don't put too much water or the rice will turn out too wet and affect the taste and texture.

Easy right? I always prepare this dish when I don't feel like cooking for dinner later. Just keep the rice warm in the rice cooker and serve it hot with some fried shallots, garnish with some chopped fresh spring onions and home cooked sambal. Yum, yum...

Fried Prawns with Black Fermented Beans

2011-04-27T22:39:00.003+08:00

Fried Prawns with Black Fermented Beans.

Ingredients :

Fresh king prawns 1kg (marinate with a small pinch of salt)
5 slices of ginger (shredded & cut finely)
Half clove of garlic (smashed & chopped finely)
1 red chillies (shredde & cut finely)
I stalk of fresh green spring onion (cut finely)
1 small pkt (about 1 tbsp) of dried fermented black bean (put into a small bowl & soak with hot water, drained & squeeze away the water then chopped finely)

Seasoning :
1tbsp oyster sauce
2-3tbsp premium light soy sauce (Adjust according to the type of soy sauce you have)
1tbsp sugar
a few dashes of sesame seeds oil
3/4 cup hot water
1/2 tbsp of corn starch
(mix everything well in a bowl and lastly add in the corn starch)

Method :

Coat the marinated prawns with some corn flour and fried till cooked. Set aside.

In a clean wok, heat up some oil, add in the gingers, follow by the minced garlic and the chopped black fermented beans and stir fry till fragrance. Add in the chopped red chillies and stir fry for awhile. Add in the bowl of seasoning and keep stirring till the sauce thicken. Throw in the chopped green spring onion & chinese parsley (optional), off the fire and add in the pre-fried prawns and mix well. Make sure all prawns are coated with the sauce.

Serve hot.

Enjoy!

Spicy Sweet & Sour Honey Fried Prawns With Tomatoes & Onions.

2011-04-13T20:07:00.052+08:00

I have been busy recently and couldn't get to write down the recipe to share with everyone. So sorry for that. Below is the recipe for the honey prawn dish as shown in the picture above.

Ingredients :
1/2kg of fresh prawns (Devien and make a slit at the back of the prawns from the head to the tail. Clean and marinate with a pinch of salt)
2 big red onions (quartered)
1 big tomatoes (quartered)
Finely shredded ginger
Half clove of finely chopped garlic
1 stalk of fresh green spring onion and some chinese parsley(chopped finely, for garnishing)

Seasoning :
2tbsp honey
3tbsp Maggi tomato sauce
1tbsp Maggi chilli sauce
1tbsp oyster sauce
1tbsp soy sauce
3/4 to 1 tbsp L & P sauce
1tbsp or more (if prefer sweeter) sugar
4tbsp plain water
(Mix all the seasoning in a bowl, adjust the ingredients to suit your taste.)

Firstly, coat the marinated prawns with corn flour (pat off excess flour) and deep fry till the prawns are cooked. Set aside. Clean the wok, heat it and add in some oil. Fry the finely shredded ginger till golden brown, take out and set aside. Use the ginger oil to fry the chopped garlic till lightly browned then add in the onions, follow by the tomatoes. Stir-fry for awhile then add in the bowl of seasonings. Let it boil and once the tomatoes softens, thicken the sauce with some corn starch.

Pour over the pre-fried prawns, topped with the shredded gingers and garnish with the green spring onion & chinese parsley. Serve while hot.

Enjoy!

Muffins

2011-04-02T23:15:00.001+08:00

Fresh blueberry muffins.

Banana & walnut muffins.

The recipe is as follow :

375g self raising flour
75g plain flour
115g soft brown sugar (I use less as I prefer not so sweet)
150g fresh or frozen blueberries
2 eggs
250ml milk
1 tsp vanilla extract (I omitted this)
125g unsalted butter, melted
icing sugar, to dust

- Preheat oven to 210 C. Shift the flour into a large mixing bowl, stir in the sugar and blueberries, and make a well in the centre.
- Whisk the eggs, milk and vanilla together in a jug and add to the well in the dry ingredients. Add the butter and stir with a metal spoon until just combined. Do not overmix. The misture should be lumpy.
- Spoon the mixture into lined muffin tin, filling about three-quarters full. Bake for 30 minutes, or until skewer comes out clean when inserted into the centre of the muffin. Leave the muffins in the tin for 5 minutes before lifting out onto wire rack to cool. Dust generously with sifted icing sugar before serving.

I find that the recipe is simple and easy to follow. I have tried using banana and finely chopped walnut and also strawberries to make the muffins. Its yummy! You can try to substitute with raspberries or blackberries or a combination of these. Gently folding them in to keep them whole. Serve it for breakfast or tea time.

Vietnam Purple Yam Sponge Cake.

2011-04-02T18:19:00.005+08:00

I found the purple yam (refer to the first pic) at the market few days ago. I thought its the ubi keledek at first glance but upon checking with the vege seller, the aunty told me its a type of yam from vietnam. Very rare in local. The flesh is very sticky and looks exactly like huai shan (chinese yam, which is good for cooking soup with chinese herbs) and its as sticky too. I love the tinge of purple around the flesh and decided to buy it and see what I can make with it. The market aunty told me that usually, they make it into sweet dessert but I got an idea boiling in my mind. Hee...

Here I use the same recipe for purple sweet potatoes but substitute the sweet potatoes with the purple yam. I used half of the yam (about 600g), shave away the hard skin and cut into smaller cube & steam at high heat till cooks. Its sticky when raw but surprisingly soft and fluffy when its steamed and cooked. Mashed it up and add into the sponge cake mixture lastly. Put to bake at 180C and bake for 1hr and 20mins to cook. I used an 8" tin so that the cake is thicker and moist inside but at the same time, need more time to cook. Cover the top of the cake after 50mins, with aluminium foil to prevent the top from getting burnt.

I always like to experiment with different type of ingredient with one simple recipe. This one is really nice and I hope others can try it out too. It tastes even better on the next day when I take it out from the fridge.

Enjoy!

Happy Jellies

2011-03-19T19:50:00.003+08:00

Recipe for the 2 layer agar-agar:

BROWN LAYER AGAR-AGAR:

* 2tsps agar-agar powder
* 500ml water
* 100g gula melaka, chopped finely
* 2 pandan leaves

WHITE LAYER AGAR-AGAR:

* 2tsps agar-agar powder
* 100ml coconut milk
* 100ml evaporated milk
* 350ml water
* 100g sugar
* 1/2 tsp salt

1. Put all brown layer ingredients into a pan. Bring to boil over medium fire. Stir with a whisk until agar-agar dissolvesand mixture is smooth. Turn off fire. Removes pandan leaves.
2. Fill jelly mould half full with the brown mixture. Cool for 1 min, then leave to set in the fridge for 20 mins.
3. Prepare white layer the same way. When the brown layer is partially set, remove from the fridge and pour the white layer over. Put it back to the fridge to set for at least 30mins..

Green tea soy bean milk jellies

Palm sugar jellies

Chrysanthemum jellies

Coconut milk jellies

Yellow sweet potatoes layered jellies

Green Tea Chiffon Cake

2011-03-18T01:58:00.005+08:00

Red bean paste.

Green tea fresh cream.

My first green tea chiffon cake.

Turn the chiffon cake upside down to cool.

Couldn't resist the urge to peek & see whether the cake is ok and still attached to the mould.

Separated from the mould. (Haha..I forget that usually, chiffon cake is turned upside down after being separated from the mould. No wonder I find it hard to spread the fresh cream over the top as the skin keep sticking to my spreading knife.)

Nice? I totally love this chiffon cake. Had intended to spread the cream all over the cake but in the end, settled with this 'design'. Not bad also right?

Could't wait to cut through the cake to see whether the inside is ok. Its perfect. Added a scoop of the red bean paste that I prepared earlier. Its a nice combination always.

The texture is light, soft & spongy. When I cut it with the spoon, the cake will spring up to the actual height. I am absolutely satisfied.

I bought this book and had tried the green tea souffle swiss roll and it was great. So today, I decided to give the green tea chiffon cake recipe a try. You will see me trying out the various recipes in this book. I am not sure if its alright to copy the recipe here as this seems a bit unfair to the author. The recipe is written in detail and very easy to follow. Its a good book. Do try to get it and happy baking!

Tomyam Mee Goreng

2011-03-16T20:43:00.006+08:00

Ingredients for tomyam mee goreng:

1 pc firm/hard toufu - diced

some bean sprout (its S$0..20 as shown in the pic above)

900g cooked yellow noodles

1 tomato - cut into quarters

1 big onion - cut into quarters

fishcake - sliced thinly

1 red chilli - shredded

8-10 fresh prawns (squid/diced chicken fillet)

1 stalk of fresh green spring oinon cut lengthwise

paste :

3tbsp maggi tomato sauce

2tbsp maggi chilli sauce

1tbsp oyster sauce

2tbsp tomyam paste

2tbsp light soy sauce

a dash of maggi seasoning

1 tsp sugar

a dash of fish sauce

3-5 tbsp water

(mix all in a large bowl and set aside)

Usually when I want to fry noodles, I will prepare some fried shallots and mashed garlics in oil till light brown. Take out and set aside. Leave the oil in the wok and once the wok is hot, add in the diced toufu and stir fry til light brown. Add in the prawns, fishcakes, onion and tomatoes. Give it a quick stir then add in the bowl of tomyam paste mixtures and mix well. Lower the flame here as the sauce will get burn easily if the fire is too high.

Add in the yellow noodles in portion, mixing with the sauce constantly until every strand is coated in the sauce. Turn the fire to medium flame and lastly add in the beansprout and green spring onion. Mixed well. Done.

On a plate, topped the noodles with some shredded red chillies, fried shallots or thinly cut fried egg sheets(I didn't put today). Squeeze some lime juice. Garnish with some parsley. Ready to serve.

Fried Bitter Gourd With Eggs

2011-03-16T14:00:00.002+08:00

Cut the bitter gourd in thin slices, marinate with some salts & leave it in the fridge for an hour or overnight(as I just did bcos I bought a large bitter gourd, cleanse & cored and used half to cook with spareribs for dinner last night, keeping the other half for this dish today.) When ready to cook, just wash the salt away & squeeze out all the liquid(that way, the bitter gourd will remain crunchy & nice even after frying). This is ready to mix with the eggs.

Fried bitter gourd with eggs.

I used to be afraid of eating bitter gourd. Right, from its name 'bitter' gourd, it sure tasted bitter. Its after I read from cooking books and learn to prepare this dish that I started to enjoy eating it.

Ingredients:

Half a large bitter gourd (prepared as shown in the first pic)
3 eggs beaten
Pinch of salt
A dash of fish sauce
3tbsp of Corn starch

Method:

Mix all ingredient in a large mixing bowl. Heat up the wok and add in 2tbsp of oil. Fry the eggs in small portion and under medium flame so that the bitter gourd gets cook evenly & the eggs don't get burn too easily. Don't be too impatient to turn the eggs or it won't turn out nice and crispy.

Enjoy!