Apple Crumble

Made this on Christmas day as I have some green apples (7 big ones and 1 small one) in the house.  The ingredients a.re estimated.  I just used a pastry for tarts as the base. Bake the pastry for about 20 mins. and let cool.  I will have to find another pastry which has a softer texture  when baked as mine cracked easily though it tasted okay.  This pastry is suitable for tarts only.   Turned out not too bad for a 1st time. 

Crumble  :  Mix about 100gm chilled butter with 80 gm plain flour until resembles bread crumbs.  Mix  in
                 about 100gm castor sugar and some chopped walnuts.  Leave it in the fridge.

1)   Peel and core the apples.  Cut into small wedges.
2)   Heat up the work and put in  about 50 gm of butter. Add in the apples and about 3 tabsp of water, 1/2
      tsp cinnamon powder, 50 gm sugar (more or less according to taste) and some raisins and cook until
      the liquid evaporates.  When cool, squeeze half a lemon juice over the cooked apples and mix well.
3)  Scoop the cooked apples onto the pastry and spread the crumble on top.
4)  Bake at 160 deg. C for about 20 mins or until golden brown. Should eat it warm with vanilla ice-cream.

Egg Tarts

Made these egg tarts during the weekend.  Not all of them turned out like the ones in the photo.  Some of the egg fillings sort of a sink in the middle.    Making the tart shells is quite tedious but I might try another recipe later.

Baked Cheesecake

Made this yesterday afternoon and I guessed it was not chilled enough when I cut it at night.  It was a bit soft but by morning it has hardened and the texture  is a cross between a  cake and ice-cream.  Friends and colleagues love it. Definitely will  try again as it is easy to make.

Recipe

110 gm digestive biscuit (crushed them in plastic bag)
50 gm melted butter
Option -  I added some crushed almonds/nuts.

1)    Combine crushed biscuit with the melted butter and press until firm onto an 8" loose bottom cake pan.
       Bake for about 10 mins. at 160 deg. C.  Leave aside.

Filling:

500gm Philadelphia cream cheese at room temperature
120gm castor sugar
3 large eggs (give it a whisk with a fork)
250gm whipping cream and 2 tsp of lemon juice (lightly whipped)
100 ml full cream milk
1/2 tsp of vanilla essence

50gm cooking chocolate - melted
Optional - Add in a tabsp of brandy

Method:

1)      Beat cream cheese together with the sugar until smooth.
2)      Beat in one egg at a time.
3)      Add in whipping cream and milk at slow speed.
4)      Spoon half portion of the batter into a bowl and add 1/2 tsp of vanilla essence.  (A)
5)      Blend  the melted chocolate into the other portion and beat it until well mixed.    (B)
6)      Spoon (A) onto the biscuit base followed by (B) until finish.  Use a skewer and give the
         batter a swirl.  Bake at 160 deg. C for about an hour.
7)     Open the oven door a little and let the cake cool in the oven completely.  Do not worry if the centre of
        the cake is a bit wobbly.  It should set later.
8)     Best to chill the cake overnight in the fridge.

Steamed Radish Cake (Lo Pak Ko)

My mood for trying out new recipes is back and here is my Steamed Radish Cake (Lo Pak Ko) which is a favourite disk in any Dim Sum Restaurant.   It was already past mid-night when I finished steaming the Lo Pak Ko.  This morning I cut out some pieces and pan fry them for breakfast.  As usual my colleagues will get to try them too.  The Lo Pak Ko can be eaten at it is or pan fried.  I didn't follow the full recipe but it turned out well.

I noticed that quite a numbe of people viewed this lo pak ko dish and must be disappointed that the recipe is not given here.   Please visit TasteHongKong.com for this lovely recipe.

Homemade Kaya

 This is the amount of the kaya I got from 3 eggs. 

I have been wanting to make kaya for a long time but the thought of the tedious preparation time always puts me off.  It is so easy for us to just buy a small plastic container for only about RM3-RM6  depending on the quality.  Anyway I finally did it yesterday but it only took me less than an hour as I made a very small portion.  3 large eggs, santan from one coconut (I bought 2 packets of those ready squeezed santan from the market) and 240gm sugar which is too sweet. Being too lazy to extract the juice from the pandan leaves, I just put in 8 pieces into the kaya and remove them when it is ready.   Have to lessen the sugar the next round as I find it too sweet.   I made my kaya in a double boiler.  I didn't steam the kaya though.

I feel my kaya needs improvement even though my friend and colleagues say otherwise.  It doesn't have the eggy taste which I like. 

The basic estimation of the ingredients I got from my f riend  would be:-

10 eggs
1 kati sugar (600 gm)
Santan (coconut milk) from 3 coconuts
Juice from pandan leaves (screwpine leaves)

Method

1)     Combine the eggs and sugar and stir with a whisk until sugar dissolves.
2)     Sieve the above into a pot.  Add in the pandan juice.
3)     Cook the kaya over a pot of hot water and keep stirring all the time until it thickens to the consistency
        that you prefer. That would take approximately 2 hours.
4)    Cover the kaya and steam for 2 hours.

Claypot Yam Chicken

It has been quite a while I have not blogged as I have not been trying anything new. So this time I will put in this simple dish given by my friend Kem Fong.  It is quite easy to make and tasty too.

Claypot Yam Chicken

Some chicken pieces -  rub in a bit of salt. (1/3 of a chicken)
Yam - cut into pieces  (1/3 of a yam)
1 tsp of dried shrimps  - washed
2 stalks spring onions - wash and cut into 2 " length
3 clove garlic - diced
2 cubes red bean curd (lam yue) - mashed and add into a bowl of water
A bit of Shao Shing wine (optional)

Method:

1)    Heat up 2 tabsp of oil in the claypot and fry the yam pieces.  Dish out.
2)    Put in the garlic for while followed by the  chicken pieces.  Let chicken turn brown a bit in the claypot. 
3)    Add in the dried shrimps and stir together with the chicken for a few minutes.
       Put in the wine if you are using.
4)    Place the yam pieces on top of  the chicken and pour the red bean curd liquid into the claypot.  Cover
       and cook the chicken for about 20 minutes or until done.  Lastly add in the spring onions and put back
       cover.  Off the fire.

Mooncakes - Agar-agar/Konyaku

These agar2/konyaku mooncakes are complimentary from a good friend, Poon Kim Lan who sells them once a year  when the mooncake festival comes on the 15th day of  August in the Chinese calendar.  I have to blog about them because they are not only delicious but pretty.  These are not just ordinary agar2 mooncakes and come in many flavours, 12 if I am not mistaken.  I feel that she is  very innovative  in coming out with  all these beautiful flavours. The flavours that I have chosen are apple with a cake/cookie centre, yam, mango, red date with medlar seeds (kei chi), dragon fruit and cendol.  The rest of the flavours are  passion fruit, sour plum, kiwi, and chocolate.   The passion fruit and the kiwi flavours are even better and I regretted not choosing them after having tasted the mini ones at home. 

Durians

Durians! The  King of fruits.  Our line dance teacher gave us each a few durians from her sister's durian orchard.  How nice of her.    Though the durians were small they were very delicious and the seeds were so small.  Thanks Kelly.  The durians shown here are the D24 species.  There was another species of the more orangy type and they were even more yummy.  Couldn't take any photos as my daughter has taken my camera.

For those who are more interested in various types of durians, go to   www.durian.com  to find out more.

Hummingbird Cake

Baked this lovely Hummingbird Cake last weekend complete with creamcheese topping.  Is it because humming birds like to eat pineapple and bananas that it is thus called hummingbird cake!  It is a very easy cake to make.   Feedback from friends and colleagues gave this cake a thumbs up.  I have not tasted it yet due to a bout of diarrhoea.

This recipe from a magazine is given by my sister-in-law ,Wan Yee.

Here is the recipe to share.  I believe we can also use grated carrots in place of the mashed bananas.  I will give it a try next time.

Hummingbird Cake

　
3 eggs
1 cup caster sugar
1/2 cup rice bran or grape seed oil (I use corn oil)
440g can crushed pineapple, drained of juice
2 mashed bananas
1/2 cup desiccated coconut
1 1/3 cups self-raising flour
Pinch of salt
1 tsp ground cinnamon

Cream cheese icing
250g cream cheese, at room temperature
1/2 cup icing sugar

Finely grated zest and juice of half a lemon (I omitted this as I didn't have any
lemon at the time of baking this cake)

Method

1. Heat oven to 160°C fan bake. Grease and line the base of a 22cm round cake tin with nonstick baking paper.

2. Place the eggs and sugar in a bowl and beat until pale and creamy, then beat in the oil. Stir in the drained pineapple (but not the juice), mashed bananas and coconut.

3. Sift flour, salt and cinnamon over egg mixture and stir to combine. Spread mixture into prepared tin and bake for 65 minutes or until a skewer inserted in the centre comes out clean. Remove cake to cool completely.

4. To make cream cheese icing, beat cream cheese until smooth then beat in icing sugar, lemon zest and juice. Spread over cooled cake and decorate, as desired.

Enjoy!

Sweet Green pea (Mung bean) soup

Made a pot of sweet green pea soup. As my husbund doesn't like it, I took the whole pot to share with my colleagues.  Of course my colleagues are always happy that I bring food to the office.  The ingredients are more or less estimated.

Recipe

300 gm (about 2 cups) green pea (mung bean)
2 tabsp of glutinous rice
130gm of  of gula melaka and extra sugar to taste
1 packet of fresh santan (coconut milk) if you can find  -  I used the packet one bought from the supermarket
2100 ml water
a pinch of salt


Wash the green pea, glutinous rice and put them  into the slow cooker with the water. Turn to high.  Boil for at least 5 hours.
Add in the gula melaka and sugar to taste. Mix  in santan and salt and it is ready.

Note:  You can alway use just the normal sugar and the green pea soup will be more green in colour instead of brownish.  In this case, you replace the glutinous rice with  a small packet of sago and can omit the santan.

Blueberry Muffins

I have always love the good old butter cake.   Rather than spend the whole day watching telly, I made some muffins.  This is actually the normal poundcake recipe and I added some blueberry jam that I found in the fridge.  The texture is quite soft as I added in an extra egg and more milk. I  reduce the sugar content of about 30gm.  Will be taking some to the office tomorrow.

Rocky

This is Rocky, my sister's 8 months old doggie. He has very beautiful white fur  that doesn't need any brushing. at all.  Isn't he cute?  Though small in size, he does not back away from any other dogs but  can be bullied by a cat's stare!  Can you imagine a dog walking away from a cat haha!  That's Rocky.

Sugee Cake

I have long wanted to make a sugee cake and finally baked one. I found one recipe which uses 8 eggs and so I decided to use the pound cake measurement as a guide instead and just added some ground almond. The cake turned out well, just like a rich butter cake with the texture of the sugee except that it is quite crumbly.  I think I have to reduce the baking powder.  Perfect for tea time!

Sugee Cake

250gm oz butter
210 castor sugar
4 eggs - whisk slightly
125 gm self-raising flour              )
3/4 tsp baking powder                )   sieve together
125 gm sugee (semolina flour)     )
125gm ground almond                )
1 tsp vanilla essence
8 tabsp milk

Method

1)        Cream butter and sugar until light and fluffy.
2)        Add in eggs one at a time.  Add in vanilla essence
3)        Add in the sieved flour, sugee and ground almond alternately with the milk and ending with the
           flour.
4)       Pour the batter into a greased 9" pan and bake for about 50 mins at 175 deg. C. Test for doneness
          by inserting a skewer into the cake and if it comes out clean, the cake is ready.

Note:   Being too lazy to wash the baking pan, I use 3 small aluminium foil cake pan for the above cake. I baked them for about 35 mins.

Oreo Cheese Cake

This is my first no bake chilled cheesecake. It is suitable for people who wouldn't  like too much cheese in their cake.  My colleagues and boss love it but my family felt that this is not cheesy enough.  Husband said it is like eating a nyonya kueh and daughter will accept it as a jelly cake.  I do agree that this cake has too much of gelatin in it.  So hard to please!  Anyway it is a good dessert to have after a meal.  I will have to add in more cream cheese for next time.

Barley Fu Chok Tong Sui

My friends and colleagues all agreed that this is a very delicious dessert.   It tastes like soya bean water with barley and gingko. I boil this in a slow cooker for at least 5-6 hours.  Turn it to high so that the fu chok will dissolve.   Just remember to tell your grocer that you are making barley foo chook dessert and they will give you the correct type of foo chook skin.  Some foo chook skin does not dissolve at all. You can also add in hard boiled egg.

Barley Fu Chook Tong Sui

1/2 cup of barley
2 pieces of fu chok skin (add in more you want a stronger taste)
some gingko nuts   (crack them and peel off the skin. Cut into half and throw away the bitter centre piece)
                                                                                                                         
rock sugar according to taste
2.2 litres of water

pandan leaves - screwpine leaves (optional)
hardboil eggs (optional)

Method

1)        Put barley, water, fu chok, gingko nuts into the slow cooker. Switch to high and boil for at least 5-6 hours until the fu chok disintegrate into the water.  Add in sugar and it is ready to be served.

Note:  If you are cooking it in a gas cooker, I suppose an hour or so would be enough as long as the barley is cooked and the fu chok has totally disolved  into the water.

Some people like this version where the fuchok doesn't dissolve completely.  It all depends on the type of fuchok you purchase.  Notice that my boiled egg doesn't have any egg yolk in the center.

Easy Banana Muffin

Since I have 2 ripe bananas left, I decided to make some muffins for breakfast.  Even though I have blogged a banana muffin recipe before, this one is quick and simple to do. 


Banana Muffin

2 cups plain flour           )   sieve together
4 tsp baking powder     )
1 cup brown sugar  (I use 3/4 cup)
2 or 3 ripe bananas - mash with fork
Some chocolate chips/raisins

2 eggs - whisked with a fork
1 tsp. vanilla
1 cup  fresh  milk or full cream milk

100 gm butter -  melted

Some whole walnuts to put on top of muffins

Method

1)      Put flour, sugar, bananas, chocolate chips/raisins into a bowl and give it a stir.
2)      Mix the milk, vanilla and eggs together and pour onto ingredients (1) followed by the melted butter.
3)     Fold the mixture lightly.  Do not over mix (maybe about 12 or 13 folds).  It is alright if you can still see
        some flour.
4)    Spoon into muffin tray and put a walnut on top.  Bake at 190 deg C for about 20 -25 mins. 
       Check with a skewer and if it comes out clean, the muffins are ready.

Earrings

 These are some of the earrings  that I made much earlier as a hobby.  Except for the shell pearls the rest are all swarovski crystals.  The purple set and the shell pearls are sold.

The bottom ones were given to friends/relatives.

Cornflake Cookies

Today I made these cornflake cookies, a recipe I have not done for years. It is given to me by my sister-in-law Vivien who is  a fantastic baker/cook. My cornflake cookies are of different sizes and I always wonder how Vivien  managed to make hers very round and of the same size.  Well, to me as long as they taste the same, I am perfectly happy. Anyway thhis is for Aishah who has been asking for it and now she can make it for the coming Hari Raya festival.  The cookies are crunchy and light.

Cornflake Cookies

1 packet cornflakes (crushed)
19 oz butter

26 oz  flour                 )
5 oz cornflour             )       sieve together
3 tsp baking powder   )

9 oz icing sugar
1 1/2 tsp vanilla

Method

1)      Cream butter and sugar till fluffy. Add in vanilla.
2)      Fold in flourto the butter mixture.
3)      Roll into small marbles and coat them with the crushed cornflakes by rolling onto them.
4)      Bake till golden brown about 15 - 20 mins. at 180 deg. C.


Note:  Half a recipe makes about 120 pieces.

Plants

This is my 1st harvest of kunyit from just one pot. The powdered form is sold in shops.    It is used in curries and also for marinating meat like chicken or fish.  The leaves are also used in the cooking of rendang (another type of curry ).

 This is the plant.

Stewed Seacucumber with Chicken and Mushrooms

                                                                     Frozen Seacucumber

This post has been sitting in my draft box for so long.  I have forgotten to take a photo of the original dish and hence have to use this  plate of braised chicken mushroom as the preparation is the same.  The only ingredient missing in this plate is the seacucumber.  If you are not using seacucumber, just omit the part for preparation of the seacucumber.  I made the mistake of heating up the dish too many times that most of my seacucumber have disintegrated into the sauce leaving behind a few pieces only.

Finally I am forced to cook this frozen sea cucumber  that has been in the freezer for months.  TNB is replacing some electrical wires in our street, hence there was no electricity supply from 10am to 7pm on that day.  So I have to get rid of some food from the freezer just in case.    I even took some frozen stuff to put in the office fridge.

Not knowing how to go about it, I asked my good friend Josephine who is an excellent cook for advice.  The result came out well and I am pleased.   I used about 30 mushrooms as some of the cooked ones can be taken out and stored in the fridge separately to be used for other dishes.  Can be kept for a week or so in the fridge or longer in the freezer.    I should have taken some photos during the preparation but totally forgotten about it as I had to rush out for my morning line dance routine.

Claypot Sea cucumber with Mushrooms and Chicken

Sea cucumber  - (Blanched in a pot of water with some spring onions and ginger for about 10 mins.)

1/2 chicken  -     (Cut into small pieces and marinate with a tsp of sesame oil, salt, pepper, oyster sauce and cornflour for an hour)

Dried Chinese Mushrooms -  (Soak them in water until soft.   Cut away the stems and discard.  Wash the mushrooms and squeeze out the water.

[ Mix  and rub the mushrooms with  some  tapioca flour (cheong fun).  Leave for 10 mins. if you have the time.  Wash again the mushrooms. ] Optional. 

Soak the mushrooms again with a tablespoon or 2 of sugar and set aside for a few hours or  can be done overnight.  Wash them again and squeeze out the water and they are ready for cooking.

5 shallots and 1 whole garlic -  (diced)

1 piece of ginger - 2" long cut into 2 and give them a smash with the knife.

1 tabsp soya sauce

4-5 tabsp oyster sauce

sugar to taste (2 tsp)

Method

1)   Heat 4 tabsp. of oil into the claypot and put in the 

      garlic and onions.  Saute until fragrant.  Put in 

      ginger.   Add in the mushrooms and  fry for a while.

      Add in the soya sauce, oyster sauce and sugar and

      continue to saute them.  Add more than enough

      water to cover the mushrooms. 

      Lower the heat and cook for at least 45 mins. or
      until soft.

      Make sure the water doesn't dry up.

2)   Remove the cover and add in the marinated chicken

      pieces.  Stir well and cook for 10 minutes.  Taste to 

      check the sauce.

3)   Dish out the cut sea cucumber and add into the pot

      of mushrooms for about 10 mins. and it is ready.

Note:  Do not boil the sea cucumber for too long, other

          wise, they will disintegrate into the sauce. 

Yam Kow Yoke

There are so many versions of this yam kow yoke.  The pork in my previous kow yoke were always so tough and I guess I must have not steamed it long enough.  Finally I found a way to shorten the cooking process after a tip from my Anne, my sister's daughter-in-law. 

This dish can be prepared in advance and stored in the freezer.  Just take out and steam it when needed.  Since much preparation is needed in this dish, one can always prepare more.

Recipe is here.

Yam Kow Yoke

600 gm pork belly (cut into 2 or 3 big pieces for easy handling  and rub with dark soya sauce and wine)
1 small yam  (cut into thick slices)

Marinate

3 pieces lam yue (preserved  red bean curd) )
2 tabsp sugar                                               )
1 tabsp oyster sauce                                    )
1 tabsp Chinese wine                                   )   mix together
1 tsp soya sauce                                          )
500 ml water                                               )
3 ting heong                                                 )
1 pat kok                                                    )
1 small piece cinnamon bark (kwai pei)        )

1 tabsp garlic (chopped)

 Method

1)    Boil the pork for about 1/2 hour.  Take out and wash.  Pat dry with towel.  Poke the skin with a fork.
2)    Brush some dark soya sauce and Chinese wine onto the pork.
3)    Heat a cup of oil in the wok.  Fry the yam pieces for about 5 mins and dish out.
4)    Put in the pork pieces skin down into the oil. Be careful,  oil will splatter once the meat is in the wok.
       Get ready and cover the wok once you put in the pork. Wait until skin is brown.  I turn off the heat
       before I open the wok cover. If you can deep fry the whole piece of meat, it would be better.
5)   Take out the pork and put them into cold water and let soak for half an hour.
6)   Cut the pork into thick slices. Discard the water.
7)   To soften the meat faster, boil them for 1/2 hour.  Take out and set aside. (This part if optional)
7)   Heat a 2 tabsp of oil in wok and put in the chopped garlic.  Fry until fragrant.
8)   Pour in the mixed marinate and spice.  Let it cook for a while.  Taste the sauce and add more soya
      sauce or sugar if needed.  Off fire.
9)  Arrange the yam and pork pieces skin down into a bowl until full. I smear one more piece of
     lam yue onto the pork. Pour the cooked sauce over the meat.
     Let it cool and cover it with plastic film and store in freezer if you want to keep, otherwise just
    steam it for a hour and it is ready.

Orange Butter Cake

Got this butter cake resipe from a colleague, Shin Yuan but I added in orange flavour.  Easy to make and taste good too.

Orange Butter Cake

250 gm butter
230 gm castor sugar (I use 210)
250 gm self raising flour
4 eggs
8 tabspoons of liquid (use orange juice from orange and remaining use milk)
1/2 tsp of vanilla
rind of one big orange

Method

1)     Cream butter and sugar until fluffy.  Add in eggs one at a time and continue beating.
        Add in orange zest and vanilla.
2)     Fold in flour and liquid alternately ending with flour.
3)     Pour into a greased 8" pan.  The batter can fill 3 of the above foil containers.
4)     Bake at 180 deg. C for 50 min for the 8" pan or 40 mins if you use the foil containers.
        Test with a skewer.  If the skewer comes out clean, the cake is done.
        Do not overbake as the cake will be dry.

Baked Chocolate Cheesecake

Made a chocolate cheesecake after dinner.   I wanted to try again a cheesecake resipe from a cook book but I just couldn't find it and ended up with this one instead.   It is my  1st attempt  and it turned out  well according to my colleagues/friends.  Definitely taking some for line dance friends today. This chocolate cheesecake is just right for  people who do not like a too cheesy taste.  It is a bit flat because I do not have a 9" cake pan.  What  I  have is either an 8" or 10" pan and I didn't decorate the cake as there is no special occasion.

 

Bye Bye Boston

Boston, my neighbour's miniature pinscher died on Wednesday 20 April 2011early morning.  He is being buried in my neighbour's front yard. He was close to 14 years.  After having suffered a coughing illness for 1 1/2 years he finally bade goodbye.  The flowers were from my garden.

Of course neighbour is heartbroken and mentioned that she will never have another dog again but I told her that life goes on and she should have another one since she lives alone.

Like all small doggies, Boston had the loudest bark.  Good as a ''guard" dog in terms of noise but sometimes his continuous barking was irritating.  He  barked non stop at anyone who passed by but when the person moved towards him, he would run away and cowered in a corner!

Now that Boston is gone, life is not as quiet as one might think.  We have a bigger replacement version in the form of Max, our Labrador who behaves exactly like Boston.  We have to lock him up whenever he makes too much noise.

Red Flower & Blue Swarovski Necklace

Another necklace from my collection and is ideal for evening wear. My  colleague, Nancy wore it to the wedding dinner of our Director's daughter.

An elegant blue swarovski piece for night wear.