Let's get Wokking!

Temporary Closure

noreply@blogger.com (WokkingMum) — Mon, 07 Jul 2008 03:15:00 +0000

Yap! My humble little cyber eatry is temporary closed.

If you noticed, I haven't reply the comments left on my recipes as well as my chat box. I apologize for that. I have been really busy with my kids plus I'm expecting a couple of (never met) mommy friends from overseas this month. How exciting!

I have known them for 2 years. We chat through MSN about food and kids and that was how I started blogging too. It was easier to share recipes and read each other updates through our blogs. Yes. I only started blogging in June 2006! My friends will be here end July and I'm rushing to get my gift out for them. I'm making my own, okay. Nope. Not food. ;)

Before I had kids, my spare time was spend doing sewing. Only hand-made stuff using needle and thread. I'm not very good as I don't take lessons; trial by error :P But, I guess the best gift I can get for my friends is to make something for them since I not sure when I will next see them again. Hope they don't mind my shabby work. :P

I'm spending any spare time I have which was meant for blogging to make pouches for them. I'm making 2 and I'm down with 1 now.

So, dear diners, please bear with me. I will start blogging once I get the second one done. I'm still cooking even if I had not post the recipes. So you will be expecting recipes for THESE.

Stay with me. I'll be back soon!

Hand-made by yours truly, WokkingMum :P
Hopefully, I will have enough time to pack in a hand-made donut too ;)

Cheesy Pork Cutlet

noreply@blogger.com (WokkingMum) — Sat, 28 Jun 2008 08:23:00 +0000

This is my current favourite! Just look at the cheeeeeze! Oooo! You got to like this! That is if you like cheese too!

I have to be honest. I didn't come up with this. I happened to see an episode of a Taiwan variety show and one of the guest was rewarded a 'block' of pork cutlet with cheese inside. What did I mentioned 'block'? Well, it looks like a piece of brick! Okay, slightly smaller than a brick but still it looks like a block of pork cutlet. The chef really did put a big block of cheese in the meat. It seems to me that that cheese is the main ingredient used and the pork was just there to compliment it. :P

Anyway, I didn't know how it done exactly but my version really simple and it tasted good. *thick skin* The pork is really soft, not tough at all. That is if you did your job will in hammering the meat well. And the cheese! Oooo ....

I won't go further. Try this to find out on your own!

Ingredients:

Palm size lead meat about 1.5 - 2 cm thick
1/2 teaspoon Light Soy Sauce
2 slice Sliced Cheese (I used Cheddar Cheese here)
1 Egg, beaten
Plain Flour for dusting
Breadcrumbs for coating
Oil for deep frying

How to do it:

Hammer the meat on both side with a meat mallet till the meat is really thin about 3 - 4 mm. The meat will became 1 1/2 to 2 times larger than the original size.
Seasoned the meat with 1/2 teaspoon of light soy sauce for 10 minutes.
Place cheese on one side of the meat. Try to keep the chesse away from the side as it will melt and sip through the meat when you fry.
Fold the meat.
Dust with flour.
Dip in beaten egg.
Coat well with breadcrumbs.
Deep fry till it turn golden brown.
Serve immdiately.

Click HERE for printer-friendly version of an original recipe but please consider the environment before deciding to print.

* Hammering the meat with a mallet *
Look how the size of the meat became 1 1/2 times larger than the original.

Sausage with Broccoli

noreply@blogger.com (WokkingMum) — Tue, 24 Jun 2008 03:57:00 +0000

I was really lazy yesterday and I just didn't want to spend too much time cooking. Mum has Monday's Blues also, you know? :p

I just made this 2 in 1 dish for the kids, with soup of course. They can't eat without soup. ^_^"

This is not 五香贯肠. It's just Sausage wrapped Bacon. ;) Yap, I just wrapped the sausage with bacon and pan fried it at low fire till the bacon is crispy. I served it with some blanched broccoli and that's about it.

Hopefully, there's no Tuesday's Blue. :P

One of a kind, Tangy Wings

noreply@blogger.com (WokkingMum) — Sat, 21 Jun 2008 13:57:00 +0000

My late grandmother-in-law used to do this but in the deep frying version. She used black vinegar and the moment you sink your teeth into one, you'll start to salivate.

I like it except for the smell. I find vinegar too pungent. And so I have tweak it a little. You might find it weird because usually chicken wings are either sweet or saltish. I doubt you have seen or tried sourish wing before. But who knows you might love it at first bite! ;)

I used to make this for my sister and her classmates. That was before I got married. It was the only (deep fried) chicken wings I know how to do then. Probably the only thing I know how to cook too. :P

My sister is 8 years my junior so she was still in school when I started working. Her classmates would come over to our place to study and she would ask me to prepare this for them as snack. It was their favourite and the only place to have it was our place, by ... me. ;)

Now, this is my son's favourite. :) But I bake it instead so it's less oily.

If you game for something different, try this.

You will need to marinate your wings with 4 part lime or lemon juice, though I prefer lime, with 1 part light soy sauce. I add in 1 tablespoon of (white) pepper powder too. It won't be hot but it gives the wings a light pepper smell. You can omit that if you wish. You don't have to marinade this over-night. 4 to 5 hours should be enough.

I used to just drain the wings and deep fried them till golden brown. Yeah, no flour required but do remember to put a lid on when you deep fried. Don't come asking me to clean your kitchen if you don't. ;) That was when I don't have an oven.

You can bake it instead, if you have an oven or grill it. Spread some oil on the wings before you bake them. I would not suggest using butter here. You have to repeat spreading oil sparingly on the wings a couple more time. Till they are done. Like the Sweet Honey BBQ Wings, I bake this at 180C for 30 minutes or till thoroughly cooked and a further 7 minutes at 200c to get it brown.

Seriously, deep frying them taste a lot nicer. Ooo ... The super crispy skin! Fried or baked? You decide. ;)

Sweet Honey BBQ Wings

noreply@blogger.com (WokkingMum) — Sat, 21 Jun 2008 12:12:00 +0000

My friend was asked to prepare chicken wings for a bbq. She hasn't been to one for a long time and had no idea what to do. I thought the normal sweet version should not go wrong.

After telling her, I had the urge to have some bbq wing too and went to get some wings the next day. I used the oven of course. I won't want to clean the whole house using my hot plate.

But instead of preparing one flavour, I did two! Well, because the second one was my son's favourite. ;)

Anyway, for the honey sweet wings, I just marinate the wing overnight with 3 part honey and 2 part light soy sauce. Add in 1 part ginger juice if you like.

When you are ready to bbq and in my case, bake, just drain the wings but reserve the marinade. Add in a tablespoon of oil or butter and use it for basting.

Baste frequently till the wings are throughly cooked. If you are using the oven like I do, bake at 180c for 30 minutes and increase to 200c for 7 minutes to get it slightly brown.

I like to squeeze in a lime or too when I serve it.

Enjoy!

Meringue Kisses

noreply@blogger.com (WokkingMum) — Fri, 20 Jun 2008 06:15:00 +0000

I did this with a different recipe before. Although, there is a slight different but both taste the same. This one, as I have use a piping tip, look a lot more cuter. Don't you tell it looks like the candy on the small oval biscuit 面包花 we use to eat as kids? Singaporeans and Malaysians would know what I'm referring too. ;)

I realised the key to make is timing and temperature. Bake at low temperature and bake it long. We are suppose to dry it not brown it. But being impatient, I tried raising the temperature a little bit and my meringue kisses started to brown. Aww ... I'll make sure to get it right the next time.

By the way, this is really sweet. Plus since this take so long to bake. I don't want you to come back saying I sabo (sabotage) you. ;) So, if you don't have a sweet tooth or don't enjoy eating sweet stuff, don't try this. :P

Ingredients:

4 Egg Whites
250g Sugar
1/2 teaspoon Cream of Tartar
1/2 tablespoon Cornflour

How to do it:

Beat egg whites and cream of tartar till soft peaks.
Gradually add in sugar and continue beating till stiff. This will take about 15 minutes.
Fold in cornflour.
Pour mixture into piping bag with a star tip.
Pipe it on baking paper (no greasing required).
Bake at 120c for 1 hour or till dry and crispy.
Remove and let it cool for 1 minute before removing from the baking paper.
Store in air-tight container once completely cooled on rack.

Click HERE for printer-friendly version of an original recipe but please consider the environment before deciding to print.

Steamed Herbal Fish

noreply@blogger.com (WokkingMum) — Tue, 17 Jun 2008 03:03:00 +0000

Bought the wrong fish for this dish. I meant to get Snapper but told the fishmonger Seabass instead. Haiya! I don't really like Seabass because of the smell. Even if it's really fresh, there is still a 'seabass' smell. :P And I don't like how the meat turned out looking like lean pork after cooking it. :p Just doesn't look nice lah.

Taste wise was not too bad. It was sweet and it goes well with the herbs. It could be better if snapper or grouper was used instead.

Ingredients:

500g Fish Filet, sliced
80ml Water
1/2 tablespoon Chinese Cooking Wine
Salt to taste

Assorted Herbs in approximate weight:

15g Yu Zhu 玉竹 (Solomon's Seal Rhizome)
4 Hong Zao 红枣 (Red Dates)
1 stalk Ren Shen 人参（Gingseng)
20g Dang Shen 党参 (Codonopsis Pilosulae)
15g Gou Qi Zi 枸杞子 (Wolfberries)

How to do it:

Put all herbs with water and seal with foil.
Steam for at least 30 minutes.
Pour over fish, seal with foil again and return to steam for another 20 minutes in lower heat.
Remove foil, add in wine and salt to taste.
Steam with without foil for 2 minutes.
Serve immediately.

Click HERE for printer-friendly version of an original recipe but please consider the environment before deciding to print.

From top-left:

Yu Zhu 玉竹 (Solomon's Seal Rhizome), 4 Hong Zao 红枣 (Red Dates),
Ren Shen 人参（Gingseng),
Dang Shen 党参 (Codonopsis Pilosulae), Gou Qi Zi 枸杞子 (Wolfberries)

Rice Sandwich

noreply@blogger.com (WokkingMum) — Mon, 16 Jun 2008 10:22:00 +0000

Here's a kid's meal idea with the help with a cookie cutter.

I'm using luncheon meat (I only use Tulip Brand so no worries. hehe.) for the cut outs. But wait! Don't throw away the remaining. That's wastage! You can use that too.

After cutting out the shapes, lightly pan fried it without oil. Return the cookie cutter back to the cooked luncheon meat. Now, scoop some rice in the cutter and top it with another cooked luncheon meat.

Press it down while holding the cookie cutter to make the rice stick together and firm. If your cookie cutter has the imprint part, use that.

Remove the cookie cuter and you will have your rice and luncheon meat sandwich!

For the remaining luncheon meat, I stuff only rice in the cookie cutter to be fitted in it. Yah, this doesn't look like a sandwich. If you prefer only to use the cut out luncheon meat, the 'unwanted' part can be used for other dish like fried rice. So don't throw it away.

Blanched Chinese Flowering Cabbage

noreply@blogger.com (WokkingMum) — Sat, 14 Jun 2008 03:07:00 +0000

You might notice that I cook my vegetables by blanching them. They usually turn out looking nicer then stir fried. I never really like to stir frying leafy vegetables. Maybe I don't have the skills. ;p

They are always either over or under cooked. Sometimes, part of the veggie is cooked but another part under cooked. Plus, I hate how the dish of veggies always looked so 'messy'. :P

After a few times of unsuccessful stir-frying of veggies, I turned to blanching them and have stick to that method till now. Except now, on lazy days, I turned to use my Sharp Water Oven. My veggies always comes out perfect, if not tastier.

This Chinese Flowering Cabbage or Cai Xin 菜心 as we commonly call it, is cooked on less lazy day, ie, blanching method. :P This is really easy and fast to do, plus you have a dish of nicely cooked veggies too.

Just add a teaspoon of salt and half a tablespoon of oil in a pot of water enough to cover the vegetable to boil. Once the water is boiling, put the stems of the Cai Xin 菜心 in first. If you, like me prefer not to cut your Cai Xin 菜心 in sections, let them 'stand' with the stems in hot water. You hold on to the leaves, with gloves lah. After 2 minutes, turn off the heat and submerge the whole vegetables in the hot water for another minute. If you like your Cai Xin 菜心 to be softer, then let it cook with the heat on.

Now, here's the trick. If you are adding the Cai Xin 菜心 to further stir-frying later, like adding some mushroom with sauce, when your family are all home for dinner, then plunge the Cai Xin 菜心 into ice water to stop further cooking. So later when you are ready to complete the dish, you just have to add them to the sauce, stir-fry a little and you are ready to serve it. It helps cut down lots of cooking time, especially if you are a couple more dishes to cook. The best part of this method is that the vegetables still looks very green!

For this particular dish, I just plunged the Cai Xin 菜心 in previously boiled cooled water as I was to serve it in 20 minutes time without further stir-frying. I don't want to serve cold veggies. I just drizzle some light soy sauce and top some dry-fried dried white bait on it for that extra flavour and crunch. And that's done.

Featured Blogger

noreply@blogger.com (WokkingMum) — Mon, 09 Jun 2008 11:09:00 +0000

Okay, there isn't a recipe in the post. I know this is not a food related post. But I'm so happy I just have to share this piece of news with everyone here. *grin*

I'm a Featured Blogger! I have been featured by blog2u! *big grin*

Thank you, Shirley and blog2u for featuring my humble self!

Pan Grilled Bacon rolled Prawns

noreply@blogger.com (WokkingMum) — Fri, 06 Jun 2008 11:11:00 +0000

Two of my son's favourites are here, prawn and streaky bacon. I used some of the bacon for previous dish and the rest were used here.

My son had this with his tomato sauce and I have it with my sweet and spicy sauce. And my daughter just ate the bacon. ^_^"

To do this, you will only need large prawns and bacon. Smaller prawns are not advisable to be used here as they will end up being dry and hard.

First, you have to shell your prawns. The head and shells can be retained to make Laksa. Then pierce a wooden skewer through the prawn from the tail-end. Oh, and please remember to wet the wooden skewer first. This is to prevent it from burning during the grilling process.

Next, wrap a bacon from the tail-end with the fatty part of the bacon 'outside'. Overlap the bacon a little and continue wrapping till the whole prawn is covered. Tuck the loose end of the bacon in. If you have no idea how to do it, just use a toothpick to secure. Likewise, wet the toothpick first before use. You can season with some ground black pepper and set them to grill till cooked. Remove the toothpick and serve.

If you have the time, the best way to do this is to partially cook the bacon first. It should not be brown; just cooked. This should take about less than 1 minute. Let it cool then starts with the wrapping. This is to ensure that the prawn that is wrapped inside will not be over cooked and become dried. You can use this method too if you are not using large prawns.

You can also do this using the oven if you like. I haven't seen the grilled marks on my food for a long time so I'm using the grill pan this time. ;)

Try some for the weekends. Enjoy!

Roast Chicken with Bacon

noreply@blogger.com (WokkingMum) — Thu, 05 Jun 2008 10:10:00 +0000

Anything with bacon seems to be tasty. :P My husband stays away from this now because he thinks it's bad for his cholesterol. ^_^" Still he stole a bite of the chicken meat, without skin, without bacon and likes it too.

I like it how the bacon 'protects' the chicken from getting dry and hard and also at the same time seasons it. With bacon in here, you don't need any other seasonings. Just let the bacon to the job. Well, with the help of a slice of lemon too.

This is my son's current favourite (because of the bacon lah). It might be yours too. Try it!

Ingredients:

2 Large Chicken Drumstick
4 slices Streaky Bacon
3 glove Garlic, crashed with skin on
2 slices Lemon

How to do it:

Place a slice of lemon on the chicken.
Wrap a slice of streaky bacon slightly tight starting from the joint part with the fatty part of the bacon should be 'outside'.
Overlap the bacon a little so you don't see the chicken.
Place the chicken in a oven proof dish with the loose end bacon placed down.
Scatter the garlic around.
Roast the chicken in a preheated oven at 220C for 15 minutes.
Reduce the temperature to 170C and continuing roasting for another 40 minutes or till thoroughly cooked.
Serve.

Click HERE for printer-friendly version of an original recipe.

Disney Characters Shortbeard

noreply@blogger.com (WokkingMum) — Sat, 31 May 2008 16:00:00 +0000

Just sharing what I did with the Disney characters cookie cutters I have using this recipe. Originally, my plan was to bake a container for my friend to bring back to her hometown in Malaysia but due to some hiccups at my end, I could only bake it on Saturday morning and she is leaving in the afternoon. It a bit to rush for her to pick up from me.

Oh well, I shall benefit my neighbour then. Hehehe

Choux with Strawberry Sauce

noreply@blogger.com (WokkingMum) — Fri, 30 May 2008 16:00:00 +0000

One night when the kids had gone to bed, I suddenly had the urge to bake something. With all the ingredients I had, Choux was the only thing I could do.

In case you are wondering, Choux is what its used as the shell of cream puffs, profiteroles and eclairs. Okay, we always call it the puff lah.

As I didn't prepare to make this, I didn't get the ingredients to do the custard. Lucky for me, I had whipped cream and Strawberry Puree meant to make this. So I just use those on mine instead. And that was what me and my husband had as midnight snack and what my son had for tea the next day! ;)

Ingredients:

20 butter
60ml Water
35g Plain Flour
1 teaspoon Sugar
1 Egg

How to do it:

Combine butter with water in a pot.
Bring to a boil.
Add in flour and beat with wooden spoon over heat till the mixture doesn't stick to the base and side of pot and forms a smooth ball.
Let it cool a little and add in egg.
Beat with electric beater till it becomes glossy.
Spoon mixture into pipping bag.
Pipe small amount of choux pastry leaving 5cm apart on baking tray. Remember to put on your glove to do this because it's really hot!
Baked in a preheat oven at 200C for 7 minutes.
Reduce temperature to 170c and continue baking for 10minutes.
Cut open the puff and bake for a further 5 minutes or till dry.
Remove and let it cool.
To serve, just add whipped cream in the puff and drizzle with cold strawberry sauce.

Click HERE for printer-friendly version of an original recipe.

Chicken and Mushroom Soup

noreply@blogger.com (WokkingMum) — Fri, 30 May 2008 00:22:00 +0000

We went out for dinner one evening and the restaurant's soup of the day was Chicken with Mushroom Soup but it was slightly sweet not saltish like the normal soup.

My daughter like it and finished the whole soup on her own. Of course I had to try making on my own (by looking at what was in the pot :P)

Hey, I'm not too bad. The taste was rather close. Maybe it would taste like the original if I added MSG. ;) But my daughter like it anyway and finished it all too.

If you want something different, try this.

Ingredients:

8 Dried Chinese Mushroom, soaked to soften and drained
35g Dried Longan
1 Chicken Breast
100g Pork Ribs
1 slice Ginger
1.5 litre Water
1/2 tablespoon Chinese Cooking Wine
Salt to taste

How to do it:

Blanch both meat.
Remove the stalks from the mushrooms and squeeze out excess water.
Half the mushrooms if they are big.
Place all ingredients except salt and wine in a pot.
Reduce to a simmer after it is brought to a boil.
Simmer for 2 hours till the mushroom are soft.
Add wine and salt to taste.
Serve.

Click HERE for printer-friendly version of an original recipe.

Baked Soy Sauce Wings

noreply@blogger.com (WokkingMum) — Thu, 29 May 2008 01:48:00 +0000

These days when my dinner involves baking in the oven, I try to parboil them first (if possible) to save electrical bills. :P Sometimes, by doing so, I can cut cooking time to almost half or more.

Depending on what you are cooking, parboiling doesn't necessary make the food less tasty.

Ingredients:

6 Mid-joint Wings
100ml Light Soy Sauce
20ml Water
1/2 tablespoon Sugar
1 teaspoon Dark Soy Sauce
1/2 tablespoon Ginger Juice

How to do it:

Mix all ingredients well in a pot.
Bring to a boil and reduce heat to a simmer.
Continue cooking for15 minutes.
Remove wings and place them on a rack. Retain sauce for basting.
Bake them in the oven at 200C for 7 minutes.
Remove the wings and dip them the the sauce previously retain from cooking.
Return to bake for another 5 minutes.
Serve.

Click HERE for printer-friendly version of an original recipe.

Fish Paste Meat Rolls

noreply@blogger.com (WokkingMum) — Wed, 28 May 2008 01:43:00 +0000

This is one of those dishes that everyone at home will eat. There are many ways to cook this.
What is shown here uses fish paste. If you have more money to spare, you can buy prawns, grind them into paste and use that instead. It worked well using sotong (squid) too.

Instead of having asparagus, you can have carrot stick, celery stick, bell pepper, etc or all of it in it. It all depends what you like or for my case what my kids like.

If you chose to have the vegetables in the roll, you don't even have to add extra vegetable in the sauce. In fact, I don't even have the sauce if the kids are not eating.

I have baked what you see here. You can pan fry it with a little oil and for a healthier choice, you can steam it.

You can come out with many different ways to do this just using the concept of this dish and it's not that difficult to make this as well.

Ingredients:

150g Fish Paste
8 slice thin Lean Meat (get either meat for shabu shabu or use a tenderizer to pound it thin)
16 Thai Asparagus
Salt and pepper
1/2 tablespoon Chinese Cooking Wine
a little oil
Carrot and Baby corn, sliced
1 clove Garlic, minced

Sauce:

150ml Broth
Salt and Pepper
Cornflour Mixture

How to do it:

Season fish paste with wine, salt and pepper.
Lay down pork and spread fish paste evenly.
Place two asparagus on one end and roll up.
Spread oil sparingly on the meat.
Put the loose end down on a oven proof dish.
Bake in oven for 10 minutes or till cooked.
Set aside.
Heat wok with a little oil.
Stir fry garlic till fragrant.
Add in the vegetables and stir fry for 1 minute.
Add in the broth and bring to a boil.
If you want your vegetables to be softer, reduce heat to a simmer and cover the wok.
Cook till the vegetables are soft to your desire.
Add salt and pepper to taste.
Thicken with cornflour mixture.
Pour sauce over the meat rolls and serve.

Click HERE for printer-friendly version of an original recipe.

Black Chicken with Angelica Sinensis Soup

noreply@blogger.com (WokkingMum) — Sat, 24 May 2008 03:16:00 +0000

My recently blood test came back and my health condition would be perfect if not for that little star-mark showing I'm an Anaemic with a slightly low blood pressure. Other than that, my doctor said my bone marrow is producing smaller than normal red blood cells which might be the cause of my constant giddy spells.

My husband joked that lucky I have 2 kids at home to help increase my blood pressure. Otherwise, it might be even lower. ^_^"

Since I didn't want to do a blood count or a another blood test (later I faint,how? :P) now, Doc gave me iron pills though he said it could be deficiency in Vitamin B12 or Folic Acid instead. On top of that, I'm having this soup once a week too; till my next blood test in 2 months time.

It's commonly known that Angelica Sinensis 当归 (DangGui) treats fatigue and anaemia. But it's not a miracle herb. Don't expected to be treated with just a dose. You have to take it regularly over a period of time. Otherwise, just make this to enjoy the taste. If you get a better grade Angelica Sinensis 当归 (DangGui), it's sweet. The cheaper and lower grade ones may have a bitter taste.

Ingredients:

1 Black Chicken, washed and cleaned
Approxiately 27g Angelica Sinensis 当归(DangGui)
15g Wolfberries 枸杞子(GouQiZi)
6 Black Dates 黑枣 (HeiZao）
2 litre Water
1/2 tablespoon Chinese Cooking Wine (optional)
Salt to taste

How to do it:

Blanch chicken.
Place all ingredients except wine and salt in a pot.
Bring to a boil.
Reduce to a simmer and continue cooking for 3 hours.
Add wine and salt to taste.
Serve immediately.

Note:
A better way to cook this will be double-boiling which ensure the essences from all the ingredients are not loss through cooking but it will take much longer to cook. Expect at least 5 hours! And you have to keep check on the water.

Click HERE for printer-friendly version of an original recipe.

Clockwise from top left:
当归 Angelica Sinensis, 枸杞子 Wolfberries, 黑枣 Black Dates

Chocolate Walnut Cake

noreply@blogger.com (WokkingMum) — Fri, 23 May 2008 07:09:00 +0000

This is another recipe given free when I bought my first oven and so fast all the recipes that I have tried out are really good.

This is another very good one. I give my friend a whole cake (see below) and her family like it very much. Her daughter even brought some to school to share with her friends! :P

I used the rest of the batter to bake in cups instead.

Ingredients:
(A)

350g Butter, soften
120g Caster Sugar
1 teaspoon Vanillin Powder

(B)

10 Egg Yolks

(C)

240g Plain Flour, sifted
2 teaspoon Baking Powder

(D)

120g Chocolate Rice
200g Coarsely Chopped Walnuts

(E)

10 Egg Whites
120g Caster Sugar

(F)

80g Halfed/Quartered Walnuts as toppings

How to do it:

Prepare greased 9" cake tin (I used rectangle foil tin).
Preheat oven at 180C.
Beat (A) till light and creamy.
Add in (B) slowly.
Gradually add in (C) and mix evenly.
Fold in (D).
In another bowl, whisk (E) at high speed till peaks.
Fold in to first bowl to form a smooth batter.
Pour into cake tin and top with (F).
Bake for 45 minutes or till done. Check using toothpick test.
Remove from mould immediately.

Click HERE for printer-friendly version of an original recipe.

* for my friend, Poi San, the tester for my bakes ;p *

Grilled Salmon with Herbs

noreply@blogger.com (WokkingMum) — Thu, 22 May 2008 06:14:00 +0000

If you recall, I mentioned in my earlier post that my hubby wants fish for dinner. This is his latest favourite fish dish.

However, accordingly to the seller for fennel which is used in this dish, not many people like it as the smell is rather strong. It is rather strong but that's exactly why it's used. I don't eat cooked salmon (I only like it as sashimi) because of the smell when it's cooked but when it's cooked with fennel, when I can smell is the aroma of fennel. Yeah, I'm not so put off by cooked salmon now.

Another plus point for this dish - very easy and fast to cook. Nice for those who are come back home late but still want some hot home cooked dinner. Just blanch or steam some veggies to go with this and dinner is done.

I'm using oven to cook this but if you do not have one, you can try steaming it. However, do seal it with foil or cling wrap when you steam it. This is to avoid adding the water vapor from steaming to the fish.

Ingredients:

100g Salmon
1 glove Garlic, chopped finely
1/2 tablespoon Grated Lemon Zest
1/2 tablespoon Fennel, chopped (only the pin-like leaves are used here)
1 teaspoon Olive Oil
A pinch of salt and pepper
A wedge of lemon

How to do it:

Rub salt and pepper on salmon and set aside.
Mix the rest of the ingredients together except lemon.
Spread the herb mixture on both sides of the salmon, more on the top.
Grill in oven at 180C for 30 minutes or till cooked.
Squeeze on some lemon juice just before you eat.

Click HERE for printer-friendly version of an original recipe.

Note: I have previously wrote one of my ingredients, Fennel as Dill. The herb used here is Fennel leaves. Sorry for the mistake. Fennel is 茴香 in Chinese.

Homemade Garlic Spread

noreply@blogger.com (WokkingMum) — Sat, 17 May 2008 02:10:00 +0000

My son and me love to each garlic bread! The more spread it has the better it is. Yeah, we both love to eat garlic. :P So, don't talk to us after dinner. XD

I used to buy McCormick's Garlic spread with bacon bits but I was not able to find it since more than a year ago. Since then, I started making my more garlic spread.

It's really very easy. The hardest could be getting the garlic into paste-like. If you using the knife, it's going to take you awhile for the garlic to be paste-like but it will work. It just takes longer. I do it with the help of a little tool, the grater. You can of course use normal the big one if you already have one at home. Mine is a tiny one which is smaller than my palm.

Oh, you can use this method to grate ginger to get the ginger juice. At least this is how I did it.

For my garlic spread, I mixed 4 glove of grated garlic to 1 tablespoon of softened butter. If you have garlic powder and/or parsley flakes, add 1 teaspoon each to the butter for extra flavours. Otherwise, garlic and butter is fine.

You can make more and keep in the fridge. So you can have garlic spread anytime you want. Just spread on to any bread and toast it till slightly brown. Yummy!

15 minutes Cupcake

noreply@blogger.com (WokkingMum) — Thu, 08 May 2008 22:34:00 +0000

Huh? What 15 minutes cupcake? Weird name, right? Well, I don't how to call this. :P It actually a normal cupcake except this is recipe only takes 15 minutes to prepare and 15 minutes to bake. Hence, I gave it this name. ;) Had this idea to try this out after seeing a similar recipe on cake in a magazine.

It's not only fast to make but very easy too. And you will be surprised with the results too. At least, my husband and I was surprised. Before, we bit into one, I was telling him, "Just dump everything inside, beat, beat, beat and bake. 15 minutes later - done. Hmm ... I don't know... "

It turned out moist and fluffy. Yeah, it won't lost out to any other complicated recipes I have tried (baking). I mean if I spend 30 minutes to get this result. I won't want to spend 1 hour or more to get similar result mah. Oh, and utensils used are lesser, hence, less washing. Okay. Maybe, I'm a amateur. I can't really tell the difference lah. :P

But if you had always wanted to try baking or have failed many attempts, try this. In my opinion, this is fail proof. ;)

Ingredients:

225g Self Raising Flour, sifted
130g Sugar
125g Butter, soften
3 Eggs, lightly beaten
60ml Milk
1 teaspoon Vanilla Extract

How to do it:

Preheat oven to 180C.
Place sugar, butter, eggs, milk and vanilla extract in a bowl.
Beat to combined.
Gradually add in the flour.
Beat well till mixture is smooth and pale.
Stir in chocolate chip, raisins, nuts, etc, if you like.
Spoon mixture into muffin cups.
Bake for 15 minutes till golden on top.
Cool on rack.

Note:
I used both a 12 hole and 6 hole pan.
12 hole pan cupcake took 15 minutes to bake.
6 hole pan cupcake took 20 minutes to bake.

Click HERE for printer-friendly version of an original recipe.