Kitchen Virgin til 27

Pineapple Tarts

2012-01-27T22:26:00.001+08:00

Hokai, this was my first time making them and I so can't be bothered with the shape etc etc but I do bother with the filling!!

Soooo....

I literally made TarTs...in cupcake trays so that it holds more filling!!

Ok so I didn't have enough mini muffin trays...I made normal cookies instead =P

I tried to make a ball shape but the batter was a bit crumbly (it does boil down to the butter used) and the crust was abit harder than normal (better off for large base tarts) so the next time I make it I'm gona see if semi soft butter and icing sugar will help soften the base abit =)

What inspired this crazy spontaneous move? Leftover batter from my previous post! I realise that I won't have many eating tarts so thought I'd make cookies and distribute it around instead (Well, I gave everything to my sister haha). She loved the pineapple bit since it doesn't stick in between the teeth (I didn't cook it too long).

Before....and after say half an hour at medium flame

Anyway, it's Chinese New Year, so it's not worth the festival without attempting to try and make cny cookies! And to those of you out there, wishing you a great prosperous and wonderful new year to come. May the water dragon brings us joy in what we do! Gong Xi Fa Chai!

Courtesy of Nonyafood & Recipes and Rasa Malaysia's posts)

Makes about 18 tarts

For the pineapple filling

Ingredients

1 can of pineapple (net weight 300g)
5 tbsp sugar
1 tsp flour or cornstarch

Method

Drain the pineapple slices and then squeeze the extra water/juice with your hands.
Blend the canned pineapples until it’s mushy, about 10 seconds.
Using medium heat, cook the pineapple and sugar until most liquid has evaporated, and the filling turned golden. (This will take around half an hour.)
Stirring constantly using a wooden spoon to avoid burning. (Taste, and add more sugar when needed)
Add in the cornstarch (corn flour) to thicken the filling. Let it cool in the fridge.
Pineapple filling will last 1 week refrigerated.

For the crust

Ingredients

100g plain flour
50g butter (room temperature)
25g caster sugar
1 egg yolk (white can be used for glazing)
Vanilla essence and pinch of salt to taste

But if opt for shortbread base:

115g plain flour
50g butter (room temperature)
35g ~~sugar~~ icing sugar
1 egg yolk (white can be used for glazing) <---- optional
Vanilla essence and pinch of salt to taste

Method

In a clean dry bowl, add flour and sugar and mix.
Cut the butter in cubes and add to the batter.
Mix until it forms into a dough (I used my hands)
Half way through, make a hole in the middle and add the egg yolk.
Clingwrap the dough and refrigerate for at least 30mins.(essential in a warm country. Best to place the dough in the bowl into the fridge so that the bowl remains cold when working on the dough)

Assembling together

Preheat the oven to 160°C/320°F.
Take approximate 15-20g dough and roll it into a ball. (Do use flour on hands while working on the dough. This avoid too much sticking)
Gently place it into the small muffin tray and start pressing from the middle. Form a nice 'cup'. This should only fill up to half the small muffin tray size. (you should stop once you see vaguely through to the base)
With a teaspoon, take about half of the pineapple filling and place it into the middle of the small muffin tray.
Bake about 15-20 minutes or until the edge of the crust turn brown.

Fruit Tart round 2!

2012-01-27T22:21:00.000+08:00

Heh, I've done this before in my previous post but I didn't write down the details of the recipe. And since I was planning to make 2 tarts, I got carried away in making my version of pineapple tarts with the extra cookie batter leftover.

This time I did poke holes on the base of the tart to prevent it from expanding but I didn't roll the first one deep enough. Ah well, you can't complain when you have a thick base anyway?

As for the custard bit, I relied on one recipe to make it...but in fact there are other ways to make it but it does depend on what desert one plans to make. If the custard is merely for pouring, I suggest adding double cream to the recipe taken from these 2 posts: traditional english custard or Making egg custard without curdling

Mine had a 2 step and only used normal milk for the first step. Second step is just mixing the custard with whip cream to get the texture I want. But I made it twice coz the first one curdled >.<. After searching on reasons why mine didn't thicken (no double cream that's why) I decided to make it again...

It so nice to have more time since it's the cny break to myself....as well as the whole kitchen too hehe.

(Courtesy of Organic Tuscany's post)

Makes 4 x 2" fruit tarts and tart has a shelf life of 4 days refrigerated

For the base

Ingredients:

200g plain flour
100g butter
50g sugar
1 egg yolk (white can be used for glazing)

Method

In a clean dry bowl, add flour and sugar and mix
Cut the butter in cubes and add to the batter
Mix until it forms into a dough (I used my hands)
Clingwrap the dough and refrigerate for at least 30mins
Preheat the oven to 160°C/320°F.
When the pastry has rested in the refrigerator, roll out to the size of the tart dish at 1cm thick.
For a large tart tray, cover with more baking paper and weigh down with dry beans, rice, or another, smaller, baking dish or poke a few holes on the base if it's a small tart tray.
Bake at 160°C/320°F for 15-20 minutes, until the pastry is golden. Remove the beans etc and baking paper and allow to cool.

For the custard filling

Ingredients

2 eggs or egg yolk
250ml milk or double cream
60g sugar
1 tbsp flour
Vanilla essence

Option to use vanilla pod and icing sugar to combine sugar and flour together but this have to be carefully sieved into mixture

Method

Split open the vanilla pod and scrape the seed with the back of a teaspoon (or pour vanilla essence) and place in a saucepan with the milk. Bring it to heat, remove it before it boils. (very very slight bubble forming at the sides of the saucepan).
In a large bowl, vigorously beat the egg yolks with the sugar until the result is light in colour and frothy. (If using icing sugar, sieve the icing sugar and mix to avoid clumps)
Add the milk gradually, (remove the vanilla pod, ) stirring with a wooden spoon.
Return the mixture back into the saucepan and slowly reheat, stirring constantly and lightly only in one direction until hits simmering point.( If you run your finger along the back of the spoon through the custard, the mixture shouldn't fill the track your finger left) Check the video below:

The custard will thicken even more once it cools. Allow to cool, covering with clingfilm to avoid a skin forming.

Assembling

Fold whipped cream into the cooled custard. Fill the base with this and decorate with fruit.
This pie is best enjoyed at room temperature soon after it has been made, i.e. not refrigerated.

Who's Angry?

2011-12-15T22:14:00.000+08:00

My second request but first cake made in Singapore!!

So I had a request from work and thought I'd give it a try and use fondant for the first time. It literally took 3 weekends of prep since I had minimal tools to work on. A small oven that only bakes one 8" cake at a time was challenging since I had to think the logistics side of things.

One weekend I tried playing with fondant to see how it behaves as I am aware that they can melt if the humidity is too much. I realised that the birds were shaped round and were all flat by the time they dry. As well as it took quite some time to get the right colour too.

Flaaattt botttoomm

My brain started to boil with ideas I wanted to do and the moment I heard the number of people who will be eating the cakes I too was keen to make the cupcakes!

So the following weekend I made the models and the topping for the cupcakes

Had to keep them in my bedroom to keep it dry and cool. Unfortunately the cupcake toppings were still 'wet' when I took them out a week later. I should have just left them out to dry..

Following weekend - baked the cakes the night before (I forgot sugar in one!! Argh) but it took quite some time seeing that my oven can take one cake at a time. I planned to make 2 layers of 8" cake and 12 cupcakes. I saved more time by shaping the cakes the night before too.

And finally on Sunday, spend 8 hours decorating

Getting there...had to redo this as I dusted the sides with chocolate powder and it all smudged when I transfered the cake, boo!

Ready to go!

Anyhoo, she was happy, though I wished her son's birthday didn't fall on a Wednesday as fondants are hard to keep if you don't have a dry space. So yeah, it kinda melted and the fondant was so sweet that it made up for one of the cake base that didn' have sugar in it =P

Makes an 8" cake (Courtesy from joyofbaking.com's recipe)

Ingredients (no eggs!)

1 1/2 cup flour
1 cup sugar
1/4 cup cocoa
1/3 (75g) cup butter
1 cup (240ml) warm water
1 tbsp lemon juice / vinegar
1 tsp vanilla essence
1 ts[ baking powder
1/4 tsp baking soda

Note: To make 6 cupcakes, take 3/4 of each ingredients

Method
Sift and mix the dry ingredients together and the wet ingredients in a separate bowl
Combine them and thoroughly mix it
Preheat oven to 175 degC and lightly grease an 8" cake
Bake until cake springs back lightly when pressed and a toothpick inserted comes out clean.

This post shall be slightly different since there is more focused on decorating then the actual baking. Here is the real story of how I went about the cake process

Baked Peach Cheesecake

2011-08-09T18:59:00.000+08:00

Back to basics!! Thought I'd used the cream cheese in the fridge up before it starts to mould. This recipe is taken off directly from Philadelphia's cook book.

The muffin tray I have couldn't fit into the oven so I had to think up of an alternative quick! Thank goodness for those disposable aluminium cups....and I reckon it's good to reuse it too

Kitchen just got busier again =)

Makes 6 muffin size tray

Courtesy of Philadelphia's cook book

Ingredients

200g cream cheese
100g caster sugar
1 egg
75g ground almonds
63ml sour cream (I replaced with plain yoghurt instead)
1 tbsp custard (I replaced this with flour instead)
1 tbsp maple syrup / honey

Method

Line the muffin bases and grease well.
Preheat the oven to 180degC.
Similar to all in one mix, cream the cheese and sugar together until combined.
Add the egg(s), ground almond, sour cream and custard powder. Beat it till smooth.
Spoon into the prepared tin.
Top each muffin with peach slices and drizzle with maple syrup
Bake for 25-30 mins or until set and golden.
Leave to cool.

Milo Macaroons

2011-08-02T20:00:00.001+08:00

With cream cheese filling! And more Milo of course...this is base on a French Recipe instead as I wasn't adventurous enough to use the Italian recipe (consist of syrup base sugar boiled)

Gosh, the beginning was easy, but the ending was so difficult! I wasn't sure whether I over fold the eggs, as well as the Milo itself started to clump each other. And different trays give off different heat so some baked much nicer than others.

I only manage to make a few since most of them was stuck to the baking paper. Didn't realise that there was a handy tip from this post...had I known earlier, I wouldn't chuck most into the bin =S

And most of them was stuck to the parchment paper so I only saved less than a quarter from the rest of the batter

Makes about 35-40 macaroons an inch wide

(Courtesy from Cake Journal's post and lots of picture steps from cooking-ez's post)

Ingredients (Basic)

100-110g (3/8 cup)3 egg whites separated the night before.
200g Icing Sugar (I had 15g Milo and 185g icing sugar).
100g meal Almond / Almond powder.
4 tbsp (45g) castor / fine sugar.

Filling

Milo powder
Icing sugar
Cream Cheese

Method

In a dry bowl, sieve the almond powder and icing sugar (and the Milo powder) together. Mix it with a whisk to avoid clumps.
In a separate large bowl, whip the egg whites with a hand- or stand mixer. As the egg whites start foaming, add the sugar one tablespoon at a time and continue whipping until the mixture is glossy and stiff. Whisk it for about 3-4 mins or 8 mins max (You should be able to hold the bowl upside down without the meringue sliding out).
Fold the dry mixture into the meringue using a spatula. Add food coloring if desired and fold until fully mixed. The mixture should flow like a ribbon when you hold up the spatula. (Don’t over mix! If you want to test if the batter has good consistency, just dollop some batter on a piece of parchment paper. If the dollop slowly “flattens”, you’re good to go! If not, just keep folding).
Fill your piping bag and pipe the macarons onto baking sheets. (Remember that the shells will “flatten” once you’ve piped, so don’t make them too big. About 2,5-3 cm (1 inch) is enough).
Let them set for 30-60 minutes to form a dry skin (I missed this part out).
Heat the oven to 150° C (300 degrees F). Bake for 10-12 minutes in the middle of the oven. (Keep a close eye on them the last couple of minutes as they brown easily. You can test if they are done by touching the tip of a macaron, if it “wobbles” they are not done).
Let the shells cool completely before removing them from the baking sheets. If you have trouble removing them from the paper, rest the paper (with the Macarons stuck to it) on a thin layer of water and count to 15s. (Courtesy of giver's log's post).
Pipe your filling of choice on a shell and sandwich together with another shell (Cream cheese frosting for mine).

Orh Nee Cheesecake aka Taro Cheesecake

2011-05-02T11:43:00.000+08:00

I've been meaning to make this ever since I stumble across the recipe in the local Malaysian newspaper (The Star) in March...She is a housewife and wrote a book on recipes. I got so excited when a blend of Asian ingredient is fused with Western.

Probably not as nice as her recipe but it's a first try!

Who would have ever thought it turned out yummy....

I placed a rather large base as I wanted to make my own cookie dough base (Oreos are a waste since the cream would be thrown away). I used Milo powder :) but I didn't realise that it was actually twice the size of what I needed! So I had to ratio and half the cheese batter down. Turns out just as delicious. YUM.

Before...............After

Oh as well as we are on this post, I was figuring out the difference between Taro, Yam and Sweet Potato. Turns out we've been mis using the word Yam quite a bit! Glad to get that out of the way.

Pureed Taro

Makes one 8" cake

For the base (taken from my cookie dough post and tweaked according to the cake pan)

Ingredients

75g flour
50g cocoa powder
50g butter, soften
75g castor sugar
1 small egg

Alternatively, use 240g of Oreo cookies and 70g of butter melted.

Method

Use my cookie post to combine the ingredients above.

Alternative method is to place the Oreo cookies in a zip-lock bag.
Using a pestle or rolling pin, pound the cookies into small, fine crumbs.
Put them in the bowl and add the melted butter. Mix them well.
Firmly press the cookie mixture into the 8" cake pan.
Place pan into freezer for at least 30 mins to set the base.

For the Cheese batter
Ingredients

1 3/4 cup Taro blended
500g cream cheese
120g castor sugar
3 tbsp corn flour sifted
2.5 eggs (55g to 60g each)
150ml whipping cream (I used plain milk and it still works well)
1/2 tsp salt
Drops of purple colouring as an option

Method

Cut the yam into cubes. Steam it for about 15 mins until soft.
Puree it in the food processor. If you want the cheesecake to have some larger yam pieces for texture, set some aside. Combine both together and set it aside to cool.
Using an electric mixer on medium speed, beat the cream cheese and sugar together until smooth and creamy.
Fold in sifted corn flour and continue beating until mixture is smooth.
Further fold the eggs, one at a time. Beat the 3rd egg and add only half to the bowl. (Try not to over beat the mixture-too much air will cause the cheesecake to crack)
Fold in whipping cream and pureed taro in alternate batches.
Finally add the salt and purple colouring.
Take the pan out of the freezer and pour the cheese mixture into the pan.
Bake for 60-70 minutes at 150degC (100degC for smaller ovens) until the edge of the cheese mixture is set. (The centre should slightly be wobbly).
Cool on wire rack for 5 mins.

(Tip: To keep cake moist, place a tray of water on the lower rack while the cake is baking)

For the topping
Ingredients

1 cup sour cream
2 tbsp sugar
1.5 tbsp coconut milk or milk

Method

While the cake is cooling, prepare the sour cream topping.
In a dry bowl add all of the ingredients together thoroughly. (You should see a semi liquid mixture)
Spread the topping onto the cheesecake and place it back into the oven for another 5 minutes until the cake has set.
Take the cake out of the oven to cool completely. This will take about 1-2 hours.
Further refrigerate it for 4 hours before serving.

Jellies galore - Pandan and Rose flavour

2011-04-16T11:22:00.000+08:00

Hmm, think I'm obsessed in the road to perfection of making layered jelly. It's just so tricky! I had to study abit on how long does it take before the 'soup' turns into jelly while I leave it in the pot and wait for each layer to harden.

It ain't easy when you try to keep it warm either, the water in the pot slowly disintegrates. Perhaps a double boiler would work by steaming the mix, keeping it moist and warm while waiting for each layer to harden

3 layers was already tricky...I wonder how some people can do so many layer. There's so much patience!

And I love using Konnyaku Red Man! It's got a lovely texture and health benefits :D

Anyway, here's a recipe below...similar to my previous post, it's a 1:5 ratio, 5 being for water. I made 12 mini jellies using my mini cupcake tray, but I think this does a rough 8" cake.

(Courtesy of My Kitchen Snippets post and Wikihow's 9 steps to make a rainbow jello)

Ingredients

For the pandan layer

100g Konnyaku redman mix powder (no sugar needed as this mix already has some)
500 litres of water
1/2 tsp pandan essence

For the milky rose layer

100g Konnyaku redman mix powder
1 tbsp rose essence
250 litres water
250 litres milk

Method

Place your mould into a freezer. This speeds up the chilling process.
Pour all ingredients into a pot and bring the mixture to a boiling point.It is up to you on which layer you want to start first.
Leave it on the stove on the lowest heat or doubleboil to keep the mixture warm.
To assemble, pour 1 tbsp into the mini cupcake tray or 1 cup into an 8" cake tray.
Place moulds into the freezer.
Start cooking your other layer using steps 1 and 2 above.
Leave it to harden slightly(not too hard if not the jelly will not stick together. If too hard, just use a fork to lightly scratch the surface before adding the next layer.

Pandan Layered Cake

2011-04-09T23:25:00.002+08:00

This is my second time making it and it stood up!! Thank goodness for that =D

The verdict? It was abit too sweet on the jelly side but overall it is the texture I want. I was extremly tired when I made the cake as I was pretty much spilling stuff all over the kitchen and knocking things off. One thing that really taught me a lesson was not to bring the oven heat at normal conditions because this was a tiny oven. So I did end up burning the top layer before cooking the inside.

Thank goodness we don't need the top layer. Cooking the jelly mix went quick too, had to react really quickly before it started to harden up.

Anyway, here are the wonderful ingredients if you're thinking of attempting this.

Makes one 8" cake

(Courtesy of Pinkie Lollipop, Table for 2 and Peng's Kitchen's similar recipes)

For the sponge cake

See my previous blog on the ingredients and steps
Oven is set at 150degC instead since it's not the heavy duty type
After cooling the cake down, slice it with a serrated knife 2 or 3 layers.

For the filling

Ingredients

100g sugar (omit this if using konnyaku jelly with sugar)
200ml coconut milk
250g jelly powder (I use Konnyaku and alot coz I like the jelly mixture)
800ml water
Pinch of salt
6 tbsp Hoen Kwee (green bean) flour
1tsp pandan paste

Method

If using sugar; in a pot mix sugar and 200ml water and bring it to boil. Ensure that the sugar is diluted.
In separate pot, remain 600ml water, coconut milk, Hoen Kwee flour and pandan paste. Stir fully until mixed and smooth.
Gradually stir in jelly powder and bring it to a boil.
Quickly remove pot off the stove and add the syrup.
Add the first layer of cake. Pour 1/3 or 1/2 into the cake mould.
Repeat this until all layes are added to the cake. Cover the top with the last layer.
Cool the cake mixture down a bit before refrigerating it.
Cake lasts up to a week if stored properly in the refrigerator in an air tight container.

Layered Fruity Jelly

2011-03-06T12:19:00.001+08:00

Righty ho!

I was being quite adventurous this round with jelly as I have been meaning to make a layered one consisting of a fruits and something milky. With jelly layers, it's always nice to have clear layers (for the lighter taste) and a creamy layer in between. SO, I thought watermelon might go well with honey dew divided by a layer of coconut milk.

But I did a blonde moment...I bought rockmelon instead....oh well.

I have to admit I was more nervous making this to baking as I was conscious on the result itself. Some packets results in soft jelly which is not what I want.Yes, the texture of the jelly depends on the amount of gelatin one uses. So far, I have made a couple which are still soft..

The verdict. It was quite sweet even without any sugar

Thank goodness for Konnyaku brand, it gave the right texture I want. Moreover, I was surprise that the powder itself has health benefits...it does have some directions as to how much water and powder to use. As for this brand, the ratio of powder to water is 1:5

I was thinking of being very adventurous and make several layers, but I refrained and started simple. Anyway, I had to cut up the fruit from scratch and blend them into juice before I turn them into jelly...so there was quite abit of work to do that night.

Turns out that I did a good job in each layers, but they separated........which means that I waited abit too long before pouring the next layer. Oh well, lesson learnt!

Other than that, if you're lazy, no harm in buying juice of the rack ;)

(Makes 1250ml worth of jelly)

Ingredients

500ml Watermelon juice
250ml coconut juice (with 1 tbsp of sugar)
500ml Rockmelon juice or honeydew
250g of jelly powder / gelatin powder (Recommended Konnyaku brand)

Method

In a pot, add watermelon juice and turn the heat up to max.
Add 100g of jelly powder continuously from the moment the pot gets warm until it reaches boiling point. Turn the stove off.
Keep stirring, making sure that the powder is fully mixed.
Leave it to cool before pouring into jelly moulds.
Refrigerate.
IMPORTANT: Add the next layer when the surface is partly sticky NOT hardened!

Bak Kwa aka Pork Jerky

2011-02-13T15:05:00.000+08:00

My first attempt!!

And it wasn’t as hard as I thought…fun bit was flattening out the meat. I can’t believe how over rated and expensive it has become to buy these things and they are also too chewy to bite.

Then again, it is meant to be a jerky…I like my texture softer and tender though. The moment I pop it into my mouth, it was yummier than I thought from the way I cook it!

I initially used this recipe for the ingredients but stumbled across another which has a bit more ingredients and will attempt to use it in the next round. In terms of the baking process, it all depends on one’s oven but the more you ‘dry’ the meat, the closer the meat will form into ‘jerky’ like texture.

Courtesy of My Kitchen Snippit's post and soyandpepper's post)

Makes about 450g of jerky

Ingredients

500g mince pork (or pieces of pork blended in a food processor)
1 tsp Sesame oil
¼ tsp 5 spice powder
1 tbsp chinese rice wine
1 tbsp light soy sauce
1 tbsp honey (mixed with a bit of water and a few drops of soy sauce)
90g Sugar
2 tbsp Fish sauce

Method

In a large bowl, mix all the ingredients together with the meat.
Let it stand for 4 hours or overnight (I used mine immediately and it still taste good)
Pre heat oven to 100degC
Use the fan bake option if possible
Prepare an aluminium sheet on a baking tray
Place the pork onto the tray and place a clingwrap on top of the meat
Rolled out the meat to about 5 mm thick or less
Alternatively, flatten the meat with the back of the spoon occasionally dipping in water to avoid the meat from sticking to the spoon
Place tray into the oven with the door partially open and let it ‘dry’ for 50-60 minutes

Cooking

If immediately, bring the meat out and let it cool abit
Coat the honey mix on to the meat
Bring the oven heat to 180degC
Place it either in bake or grill mode
Place the tray back into the oven and let it cook for 5-7 minutes
Turn the meat over and coat it with honey and let it cook for another 5-7 minutes
Step 5 and 6 varies according to the oven so I advise to keep a close watch on it.
Not thin enough (next time should use a rolling pin and gladwrap) and I dried it for 50 minutes..mistake to put baking sheet too.

Mango Sponge Cheesecake

2011-01-26T06:00:00.014+08:00

Heh, as I got bored of eating the plain old sponge cheesecake, someone suggested ‘hey why not add a little flavour to it?’ Well, one of my lovely baking buddy made us a no bake mango cheesecake and it was absolute delicious (although she did complain she added too much gelatin and made the base abit too hard to bite).

But I got myself and oven! And yes I decided to fully utilize it. My other half loves Japanese sponge cheesecake so off I went.

The thought of being health conscious has always been there so the proud past of this recipe is that it’s much healthier than the normal Japanese sponge cheesecakes. I replaced the milk and lemon juice for yogurt as it gives the same tangy smooth flavour (as well as I wanted to incorporate as much mango flavour as I can).

Makes an 8” cake

Ingredients

125g cream cheese
75g sugar
35g flour
10g cornstarch
1 tsp vanilla essence
1/2 tsp mango essence / extract
60ml blended mango juice (less water the better) or 100ml mango yoghurt
25ml oil
4 eggs
Pinch of salt

Method

Follow my Japanese sponge cheesecake post
Bear in mind: to fill the water bath as minimal as possible as the cake batter will cook much slower if there’s too much water in the bath.
For a small convectional oven, bring the temperature to 100degC

Along came an Inspiration

2011-01-19T22:58:00.000+08:00

And so I received an invitation for another online competition. And this time, it's not just about cupcakes but it is the quest to make the best DESSERT!

I hereby introduce you..

DESSERT WARS

Let the creativity begin...

Pandan Kaya

2010-12-03T23:52:00.000+08:00

First Attempt!

It turned out slightly too much green (but I likey) and slightly curdled coz I left the pot for only 5 minutes. 5 Minutes!!! Geram (frustrated). Abit too sweet too, think I should reduce the sugar even more..

I reckon this is similar to making ice cream process but in opposite environment...I had to keep stirring and stirring and stirring. That is perhaps the art of making Kaya. In terms of colour, it pretty much indicates when it is ready. Ingredients are very straight forward but you can be creative. There are 3 main ingredients, and they also go by ratio so you won't go wrong.

Anyway, it makes really simple gifts if you're thinking of doing something different for a change :)

(In courtesy of thelazychef and Pickle&SpicesWorld's posts)

Ingredients

1 cup of eggs (3-4 large eggs)
1 cup of normal white sugar
1 cup of thick coconut milk
3-4 pandan leaves (I used pandan paste)

Method

Beat the eggs and sugar together with a whisk, mix in the coconut milk.
Next, fill the base unit of a double boiler with water and bring to a boil. (you can cook it directly off the stove but keep it at very low heat to avoid burning on the base).
Add mixture into the top unit of the double boiler, stirring constantly until the mixture reaches into a smooth consistency.
This will take around 30 to 60 mins. Alternatively, if the paste is ready when the mixture coats the back of the spoon (check Pickle&SpicesWorld's page for the pic)
Cool and bottle up.
The kaya can be kept well up to two weeks in fridge, and 2 months if it's sealed tight in a bottle.

Steamed Honey Cake

2010-10-31T21:33:00.000+08:00

This time it's the same attempt but with a proper cake tin! Though I think that bundt cake tin would do better now since the middle bit won't sink to the bottom. And I think I left it steaming at a low heat which took awhile for it to rise (yes it rose!)

This time this cake has a 'dark spot' aka a little crusty bit since honey burns quite quick.

Here's the recipe if you're bored! IT's quite simple, except that you have to take an extra effort to mix the batter together since honey is a chewy hard texture.

(Courtesy of MariasMenu's steamed honey sponge cake recipe)

Makes a 9" cake

Ingredients

150g all purpose flour
1 tsp bicarbonate of soda
1 tsp baking powder
150g brown sugar
1/3 cup (80g) Oil
1 tbsp honey
1 tsp vanilla essence
3 medium Eggs

Method

Combine together the dry ingredients and sift it. Keep it aside.
Add brown sugar to oil and combine well using a whisk. Make sure its mixed well.
Add honey and vanilla essence and whisk again. Add eggs, one at a time, whisking after each addition. Make sure that you get a lump free batter.
Add the sifted flour mixture, little by little, to the egg mixture. (be careful when whisking, as batter gets hard that causes the flour to spill if mixed too hard)
Pour the prepared batter to a well greased 9" cake tin.
Cover the dish with aluminium foil.
Place the dish in a steamer filled with water.
Steam for 35 – 45 mins at medium heat
Allow the cake to cool in the tin for 10 – 15 mins and remove from pan.
Serve with vanilla ice cream and drizzled honey (optional)

Herbal Chicken Soup

2010-09-30T22:27:00.000+08:00

Mmmmm, another great alternative instead of soup. This time, cooking this way instead of the usual soup mix is much better in the sense that all flavours essentially do not escape through vapour because the aluminium foil actually keeps the flavour in.

The thing about making this dish is that if you thoroughly want to fully utilise the flavours and herbs, you need to keep the meat marinated for longer, and the cooking process more than an hour. But I did mine in 45 minutes.

This is hot off the pot that the camera lense started steaming up hehe

And like soup, you can always refrigerate the dish if unfinish and it typically tastes even better the next day :)

Usually this dish is accompanied by a simple green vegetable dish such as kailan.

I found the dish a tad on the sweeter side and the herbs are abit too strong for the number of chickens I used. I shall attempt to make this dish again!

makes a dish for 2 people

(Courtesy of Noobcook's herbal chicken post)

Ingredients

2 drumstick chicken and 1 chicken thigh
2 shitake mushrooms, sliced thinly
8 red dates (will reduce to 4 next time)
8 slices of Dang Gui or chinese angelica roots (will reduce to half)
2 pieces of Dang Shen or codnopsis roots, cut to approx. 2 inch length (will do 1 next time)
2 tsp of wolfberries (halved)
2 garlic cloves (maybe increase to 3 next time)
2 inch ginger, finely sliced
1/2 tbsp light soy sauce (maybe replace with salt instead)
1/2 tbsp brown sugar (omit this next time)
1 1/2 tbsp chinese cooking wine
1/2 tsp white pepper
1 tsp sesame oil
1/2 tbsp grated ginger
Add chicken stock

Method

In a bowl, mix the ingredients for the sauce evenly and marinade chicken in the sauce for a few hours.(only marinated for half an hour)
Turn the chicken halfway through the marinating process to ensure that the marinade sauce is absorbed evenly.
On a large piece of aluminium foil, place a small amount of ingredients at the bottom and place the chicken on top.
Pour half of the remaining marinade sauce over the chicken and lay the rest of the ingredients over the chicken.
Pour water into the foil until 3/4 full.
Wrap the aluminium foil tightly (just 1 layer).
Steam at high heat for 35 minutes. (I had to steam longer as I placed it in a bowl, 1 hour 15 mins)
Open the parcel and flip the chicken to the other side and steam for another 10 minutes. Serve.

Fish & Co.

2010-09-25T16:34:00.000+08:00

Want a dish that comes with unlimited salad? Try this place...

The poster is good enough to grab your attention :P

Apparently this restaurant didn't get good reviews in general but this the the restaurant by far that had the best service. We ate at the Tampines branch where we were well greeted with a waitress who tells us that our table is being prepared and that she also told us today's specials, new meals, change of menu every month and the dessert section.

She also mentions that we've come at a late time where the salad has almost sold out but to specifically request for more if we want to and that the chef will make it and bring it to us. Wow, talk about great service. As well as we had unlimited amount of water...

Salad buffet here consists not just salad but it's got salmon, seafood, crab sticks, apples, white fish and even mini tortellini's!!

And they are 'fresh'. When I mean fresh, the sweet corn does not come in a can...

The salad buffet has a standard price of SGD12.80 I think but for an extra SGD2, it comes with a whole dish so we went for that instead.

One of the 6 plates of salad I had haha. It's got baby spinach, squid, prawns, corn, chickpeas, green leaves, etc all hidden underneath

I had white fish coated with bread crumbs, pepper, herbs and it comes with roast potatoes and tomatoes. I like my fish steamed ;)

D had deep fried fish batter, I think it's the restaurant' s specialty...

Verdict? Well, it averaged out about SGD15 after including the taxes and I find it kinda the average price but it's still a good value for your money since it comes with unlimited fresh overseas salad, what a healthy way of eating. I'd definitely come here again and would after a decent workout for a really good recover meal.

More information

View Larger Map

4 Tampines Central 5 #B1-02 Tampines Mall Singapore
Tel: +65 6787 3437
Opening Hours are Mon–Sun: 11.30am–9.30pm
www.fish-co.com

Steam Milo Cake

2010-09-25T15:40:00.001+08:00

Righty ho, KV is without an oven so what does she do? She attempts to make a steamed cake! And not only that, she doesn't even have a cake mould, so she has gone to use a bundt instead =P

Yuuuummm, Milo aka Chocolate cake

And the verdict? It was sooooooooooo moist!! And it is rather healthy in a way too!

Trusty Bundt cake mould left by the landlord...

I was abit anxious in terms of whether the cake will rise, whether it'll get moist with steaming, whether or not it'll turn out as a paste, etc etc but it actually turned out better than I thought :) . Some say that theirs didn't rose and they had to add fizzy drinks to it. Others add evaporated milk, in which it does make sense, as you would want to have the sugar already dissolved and ready in liquid form if not it'll form a 'dense' base. But I used milk and icing sugar instead, as I know I won't be able to use up a can of evaporated milk. And one other used rice flour, which was rather interesting but it didn't rise unfortunately.

Hehe, and you think I'm crazy from coming up with these reasons even before attempting... :P

Anyway, after much reading blogs after blogs, I've come up with a simple ingredient that requires the least amount of effort to make...it literally took me 10 minutes to come up with the batter because it's an all-in-1 bowl mix. And to add an 'extra' taste, coat the cake with a layer of honey.

(Courtesy of Cake on the Brain's chocolate cake recipe)

Makes a 7" cake

Ingredients

65g all purpose flour
50g icing sugar
35g milo powder / cocoa powder
1/4 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp baking soda
1 egg
60g or 60ml sunflower oil
100ml milk

Method

Oil the bundt tray or lined a 7" cake mould
In a bowl, add all the dry ingredients together. (flour, sugar, cocoa powder, baking powder and baking soda)
Sift them into the mixing bowl. (this is to avoid 'clumps' of flour or sugar in the cake)
Heat up the steamer. Place rack over water.
Add the wet ingredients and mix thoroughly until it forms a nice runny batter. (steamer should be already warm enough)
Pour the batter into the prepared pan and place into the steamer on the rack. Cover the top of the pan loosely with a piece of aluminum foil. Cover with wok lid.
Steam over medium heat for 30 minutes. (Check water level occasionally to ensure the wok doesn't dry up)
Check for doneness by inserting a skewer into the cake. If it comes out clean, it's done. If not, steam for a further 5 minutes. (I didn't have problems with this)
Leave it out to cool before taking it out from the mould.
Option to coat the cake with honey for 'extra' taste :)

Ji De Chi

2010-09-23T23:12:00.001+08:00

I've been walking pass this place (since it lies in a mall) ever since and have been meaning to try it out. Located in the Basement of Plaza Singapura, I've never come across the way the dessert was made...

The signboard that caught my eye

This dessert shop has it's ideas originated from Hong Kong, and uses a method whereby one places order on a piece of paper and off it goes to the waiter. The stall doesn't only do desserts but also savoury snacks such as 'bak kuah' or sticky rice with mince pork wrapped in a a pyramid shape and chee cheong fun.

Just like ice kacang, the way ice was shaven was more so smooth and it had a creamy texture like ice cream. But it's made out of ice!!!

Mango and Strawberry dessert with glutinous riceballs, sago, strawberries and mangoes

Smoothly shaved ice

Right, I do sound abit surprise and overly excited but this is something new that I have not come across before. The desserts are a tad more expensive than normal but the quality is there. Click here for more reviews and pictures posted by Jyoan in her positively nice blog :)

Heh, this dude is also doing the same thing :P

We couldn't really see how the machine had shaven the ice because it wasn't out in the open or the machine was so quiet that we couldn't hear a thing.

Our hot dessert, black sesame 'tau fu fa' or sweet toufu at the bottom.

Desserts on average costs about $5 but one thing that strikes out quite well is how healthy they actually are (well if you don't pick the deep fried and the durian ones that is). Our desserts had fresh fruits and we couldn't taste much coconut milk in our hot dessert.

I'd say this will be the next place to go to if I were to bring someone out to catch up for 'coffee'. The system is quite efficient in a way that you pay immediately after getting your dish and waiters don't rush you off too. Unfortunately this place was in the middle of the people footpath so unless you want a quieter area, you may either have to go further in or look for an alternative branch.

More information

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Plaza Singapura #B2-53, 68 Orchard Road, (S)238839
Tel: 63379828
Operating hours are 10am -10pm Daily
www.jidechi.com.sg

Dian Xiao Er

2010-09-14T05:00:00.000+08:00

Righty ho!

Time for restaurant reviews and my oh my there are alot to review over here! So much that I am getting rather lazy but I must make the efforts so that I know where to go too when I feel like craving for something hehe.

In general, Singapore's seafood is kinda over rated. I tend to base good seafood on where a country lie and although Singapore is sort of an island, most of the beaches are used as ports. So no luck with good seafood and they are expensive in certain ways.

Anyway, I was told that the chilli crabs and snail porridge are the best as well as you can find restaurants which are close enough to it's best. And one of them is this restaurant, in which the duck is as yummy as the one in the UK and close enough to the origins of it's country: China

Dian Xiao Er

The duck dish comes in 3 flavours, as it's based on the herbs that they stuff each duck with. You can literally see it getting cooked / baked and cut and the whole meat is utilised right up to the oil that oozes out of it, which is used as the sauce. What makes this dish extra lovely is the herbs they put in. One of them has up to 10 different ingredients! As well as it has nutritional values too.

Not only the duck dish is delicious, the quality of the restaurant's other dishes are just as good. We had our 'kangkung belacan' (spicy water spinach), deep fried prawns with cereal and one of the restaurant's other specialty dish: wheat tofu with seafood. This is very very healthy as nutrition is one of the restaurant's specialty.

The restaurant takes no bookings and it's on a first come first serve basis. With unlimited chinese tea, customers are allowed to sit and relax while waiting for the food to go down or chat and catch up after a hearty meal. So far, there are only 2 locations that you can find this restaurant and fortunately, one lies very close to a tourist spot, Harbour Front linking to Sentosa Island :) . Price range is reasonable too, one can spend between $20-$30 per person to feel full. Click here for more reviews and pictures.

So if you're here for a short visit, pop by! This is my restaurant that I'll bring any of my guests / relatives over to try without a doubt!

More information

#02-137/8, 1 HarbourFront Centre Walk S(098585), VivoCity
Tel: 6376 9786
Opening Hours: Mon to Sun: 11:30am - 2:30pm, 5:30pm - 9:30pm
www.dianxiaoer.net

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Sticky Rice ball with Black Sesame

2010-09-12T22:56:00.000+08:00

Another post! This is also what I am preparing for the fund raise from my previous post :)

This time, I manage to cut time down by making the balls at room temperature. Glutinous rice works in such an interesting way and I am not surprise that they work well in Asia or any other tropical countries. And apparently, if I mix Tapioca flour to it, it probably can increase the shelf life of these desserts as they don't harden to quick (yes, sticky rice ball can only be left out for 2 days before they turn hard and they can't be refrigerated)

But again, I seemed to still have air in them and they break after I boil them ><. Nyway, I think I would still prefer Lo Mai Chi (aka peanut filling) to this as I do find the sesame seeds a tad abit bitter. It doesn't really look as great (I think I made alien balls this round) but I do hope people will at least buy 1 to try...

(Thanks to Chow Time's and Thai Food About.com's helpful posts)

Makes approximately 35 balls

Ingredients

For the filling

125g black sesame seeds
125g icing sugar
100ml water

For the dough

300g glutinous rice flour
250ml water
2 tsp salt
1 tbsp sugar

For coating

200g roasted peanuts
1 tbsp icing sugar
2 tsp caster sugar

Method

For the filling

Grind the black sesame seeds into powder form
Mix with the icing sugar and add water
Stir until it forms into a paste texture
Refrigerate for 2 hours

For the dough

In a bowl mix all the dry ingredients together.
Add water and create a 30g ball.
In a large pot, fill it to half way and bring the water to a boil. (this pot will be used later in the process)
Place the ball into the pot and let it cook until it floats.
Combine the cook dough back into the rest of the ingredients and kneed until it forms like a 'play dough' plasticine (It is ready when the dough stops sticking on your hands)

For the outer coat

Grind the peanuts until powder form. Alternatively you can use a mortar and pastel to do the job :)
On a large flat dish plate, combine the sugars and peanuts together.

Assembling

Make small balls of about 15g each or the size of 1 tbsp.
Press it on the palm of your hand.
Form a cup, thinly pressing the tips and making sure that the base is thick (This shape avoids any cracks in case you over fill).
Place 1 tsp of sesame paste into the cup and seal, re-rolling into a ball again.
Bring the same pot water to boil and place the rolled balls. Cook it until they float. (I would advice to place the number of balls to the surface size of the pot.This way you can keep track on them when they float).
Remove the balls with a slotted spoon and briefly shower them with cold water (for about 10 seconds)
Roll the balls into the plate filled with crushed peanuts.
Allow to cool before storing / eating.

Ondeh ondeh

2010-09-12T00:33:00.000+08:00

And the dessert making continues in this lovely tropical country :). The weather is just as unpredictable regardless as when we were about to check out the zoo, it poured heavily but when it's time to make these lovely desserts, the sun was out.Oh well~

Anyway, this is another one of my first-time attempt and it turned out absolutely delicious! Not too uberly sweet as the salt really help enhance the flavour. Yummm, as well as I do appreciate my sis helping me because she has so much more patient rolling the dough into a ball. Reason for making so many? I'm actually helping out my company do a fundraising event at work and it's to raise funds for the Pakistan Flood Relief event.

The flood that devasted the country last month. Click on the pic to find out more

Yeah, glutinous rice flour is so adaptable that it dries up so quickly when the air conditioning is on but as soon as I bring the though into the wet kitchen, it becomes moist. As well as I keep having air bubbles in mine, so much so that it starts to float on top as soon as I pop it into the pot! Talk about being more impatient.

(Courtesy of thaifood.about.com's sticky rice ball's post )

Makes approximately 45 pieces

Ingredients

Filling

100ml water
250g dessicated coconut
125g coconut sugar / gula melaka
1.5 tsp salt (option to add more to taste)

Dough

300g glutinous rice flour
300ml water
1/4 tsp pandan paste (This is my ultimate weapon :P)
2 tbsp sugar

Method

For the filling

In a large pot, pour in water and coconut sugar. Bring it to a boil and keep stirring until the solid sugar is fully melted. (To quicken the process, cut the sugar into smaller pieces).
Pour in 150g of dessicated coconut and stir fry until fully mix. This should take about 2-3minutes.
Allow the filling to cool.
In a separate bowl, pour the remaining 100g of the dessicated coconut and salt and mix. This will be use as the outer coat.

For the dough

Similar to my ang ku kueh post, combine 40 g of glutinous rice flour with 30 ml of water ,knead into dough.Add the dough into boiling water and cook until it's floats,dish out and set aside to cool abit. (I tried to skip this step but the dough turned out crumbly, but it's not too late to mix it later).
In a separate bowl, mix 270ml of water and pandan paste until fully diluted.
Mix the remaining portion of flour with sugar and 270ml water and the cooked dough. Knead all ingredients until it forms a plasticine dough.

Combining the two

Scoop 1 tbsp of dough and flatten it on your palm. Place 1 tsp of filling into the centre of the dough.
Pinch the tip of the dough and wrap the filling and roll into a ball again.
Place some water and 1 tbsp of oil in a large pot on the stove over high heat. When the water is boiling, drop the rice balls into the pot. They will sink to the bottom at first, then gradually rise to the surface.
Now turn the heat down to medium or medium-high, just high enough to keep the water bubbling nicely. Once the balls have risen to the surface of the water, continue cooking for 2 more minutes (3-4 minutes in total).
Using a slotted spoon or small strainer, remove the rice balls from the water.
Rinse them under cool water for 10 seconds and place on your prepared surface for coating.
Coat the balls with the dessicated coconut and allow them to cool before storing them away.

Purple Ang Ku Kuih

2010-09-04T15:11:00.002+08:00

Heh, not orange for a change. The colour is base on the colour of sweet potato and purple ones are abundant. And the inside isn't yellow but maroon on the inside instead as we used red bean paste.

Thanks to my wonderful sis, we manage to get this done quick and so well that we are so happy with the results!! Hehe, one of my flatmates was teasing that we were both doing a 'masak-masak' session which meant 'cook-cook' and it's related to the little girls playing with doll houses.

So helpful to have someone, specially when it comes to taking photos :).

Makes about 16 Kuehs

(Courtesy from My Asia Kitchen and Nasi Lemak Lover's recipes)

Ingredients

About 200g of red bean paste (I made alot because I loooooveee red bean paste on anything!)
150g sweet potato mashed
375g of sifted glutinous rice flour
300ml of water
50g sugar
3 tbsp oil
16 banana leaves (8cm x 8cm)

Method

Steam sweet potato till cooked.Mash well while it's still hot,set aside in a large bowl.
Combine 40 g of glutinous rice flour with 30 ml of water ,knead into dough.Add the dough into boiling water and cook until it's floats,dish out and set aside to cool abit. (This helps in combining the rest of the dough easily, quite important step).
Mix the remaining portion of flour with sugar and 270ml water,mashed sweet potato,oil and the cooked dough. Knead all ingredients until it forms a plasticine dough.
Flat each ball shape dough in round shape on your palm, each weighing about 50g.
Scoop 1 tsp red bean paste on the center of the dough.
Pinch the tip of the dough and wrap the filling and roll into a ball again.
Dust the mould with some glutinous rice flour. (I used oil first and then flour after)
Press the filling ball of kueh into the mould,then knock it out.
In a bowl, place 1 tsp of oil and 1 tbsp of water. This is used as a coat. Brush oil on a banana leaf before placing the kueh on it.
Further brushed the top of the kueh with a layer of oil mix.
In a large pot, fill with water and bring it to boil. Bring heat down to medium.
Placed ang ku kueh in the steamer rack about 2 inch each apart.
Steam the kueh for 7 minutes total time at medium heat, but open the lid every 2 mins to let the steam out. This is to avoid the kueh from 'melting' too fast.
Brush the kueh with a layer of oil again.
Best served at room temperature. Can be refrigerated but needs to be steamed again when taken out.

Red Bean Paste (for pau)

2010-08-14T23:37:00.004+08:00

Feeling rather discouraged without an oven, I have perhaps now moved into a new phase of dessert making: Steaming!

And thanks to the lovely flatmates of mine, they have all the utensils and pots available for steaming. Wee!!

And I am attempting to make bread for the first time....voila!

It's not exactly Tau Sar Pau (I don't think) as I think it was meant to be black beans instead (either that, we're suppose to use black colouring or something) and the 'paste' doesn't look as smooth coz I did not have a blender. So it was back to the good ole spoon against the pot mash tactic.

Anyway, taste: YUM. As well as I can make lots of fillings in the pau (bun)! I'm not really happy with the ingredients for the pau so I'll post up the recipe later when I get the portions right ;)

Yield's about 2 cups

(Courtesy from About.com's Sweet Red Bean past recipe)

Ingredients

200g Mung beans
Water for boiling
4 tbsp sugar
1 tbsp oil

Method

Wash the beans and throw out any that are damaged.
Soak the beans over night or for at least 8 hours with water (this helps shorten cooking time.
Bring the beans to boil and simmer it for at least an hour - 1.5 hours on low heat.
Top up with water if necessary.
Add the sugar towards the end (add more to taste).
To check, the beans can easily be mashed with your finger.
Drain the mix and whizz it in a blender after cooling.
Heat up a pan with oil and add beans on low-medium heat until they are dry, pressing them gently on the back of a spatula (our aim here is to 'dry' the beans until it forms a paste).
Allow to cool before refrigerating. The paste lasts for about a week.

Less ingredients = Healthy food?

2010-07-31T11:46:00.000+08:00

Time to revive this space. I have started to settle much better in my new profound surrounding (and a larger kitchen, WOOHOO) and have already looked into what to cook.

Are you up for a 10-day challenge? Drinking 6-12 cups a day of this: Maple syrup,lemon juice and Cayenne Pepper mixed in water

In the mean time, this lovely Mei of mine is going through this interesting Detox programme called Master Cleanse. One morning, where I woke up, unable to sleep I read the whole article about it and it brought up alot of questions. One being about the title above. But before I go into further detail, I am rather tempted to try this Detox thing although it is going to be uncomfortable to start off with. Not a great idea when first day of work is on Monday...Anyway, Master Cleanse is a whole topic to discuss about so I better not run off the topic.

And btw...I'm not doing it to diet. I am rather more interested in getting rid of the detox in the body.

It seams that the great Stanley Burroughs mention that it takes extra effort to make a certain food unhealthy. This includes adding alot of extra ingredients or salt and pepper just to make it 'tasty'. It was described somewhat direct, in a way it had some truth in it, and in other ways it sounds just too good to be true. It make me wonder alot at this moment of time, as whilst reading this at the same time, I'm actually looking at asian recipes. They do have alot of spices involved (such as chinese 5 spices, soy sauce) in which I'm sort unaware of whether it does greater good to health or is merely just an added taste to the meal. Apparently soy sauce is a great replacement to salt (says my good food blogger aka friend the innovative baker and her latest article) and 5 spices are from herbs.....*the thoughts go on*

I found this article of making food much healthier. This is by replacing certain things that the body takes more time to break down such as dairy, cheese, white bread etc. Check this article on: Modifying a Recipe to be Healthier

Anyway, I have made my own conclusion. Dr. Stanely has some facts in his article and is abit of an extremist. As I kept reading, the more truth I take in, seems the harder I believe. But I'm glad I read it because it has brought to remind me to be health conscious once more. But hey, when one loves to cook, one always does want to know what goes into a meal and of course one tends to make cooking a pleasure, an art or nutritious.

Japanese Sponge Cheesecake

2010-06-09T06:00:00.000+08:00

Yessss, I manage to bake something in the most busiest time of my life, muahaha. All thanks to my lovely Fiance who loves this cheesecake to bits. The fluffyness of this cake absolutely makes it so light to eat and of course tempts one to have a double the serving instead :P

What I was proud off was that I finally got over the anxiousness of whisking the egg whites with caster sugar. The last time I did, it didn't rise. Phew!

(Other reference's source: Diana's Dessert's cotton soft cheesecake)

Makes 1 x 9" cake or 2 x 8" cake.

Ingredients

250g cream cheese
50g butter
100ml fresh milk
60g superfine flour / plain flour - sifted
20g corn flour - sifted
6 egg yolks
1 tbsp lemon juice
¼ tsp salt
6 egg whites
¼ tsp cream of tartar
140g caster sugar

Method

Melt cream cheese, butter and milk in a bowl over a pot of hot water.
Cool the mixture.
Beat in the egg yolks and lemon juice and mix well. Sift in flour and cornflour and mix well.
Whisk egg white with cream of tartar until soft peaks form.
Add in the sugar and whisk until glossy.
Add the egg white mixture into the cheese mixture and fold well.
Pour into an 9” round cake pan (Lightly grease and line the bottom and sides of the pan with greaseproof baking paper or parchment paper) or two 8" inch round cake pan
Bake in a water bath for 1 hrs 10 mins or until set or golden brown at 160C.

Chaos

2010-06-09T00:55:00.000+08:00

Yes yes, I have been neglecting my dear blog lately but I have got a good reason this time. I have to leave UK at such a short notice! It's a long story and I don't have time to even breathe. Nevertheless I finally manage to put some baking into place as well as research on the best baking books I want to take with me. Shipping costs are so reasonable right now so I better make the most of it. To those of you out there, I do recommend the book below:

It was either this lovely book or Bake by Australian Woman's weekly

In the mean time, I do hope to pursue my passion in Asia where dessert making is a whole different level! We are surrounded by 'wet kitchens' rather than a typical 4 season kitchen with an oven since this is a tropical terrain.

I will definitely miss this country so much. Aaah, life, it becomes stronger and better, yet more fragile and emotional.

Chocolate Truffles...

2010-04-20T07:13:00.001+08:00

With training in the way, it took so long before I manage to post this up. But, it was soooooooo rewarding after making them!

As soon as you bite into this, you will definitely go all gooey inside. Literally. It was absolutely comforting ;).

Thanks to my fellow baker, Baking Addict, I was inspired to make them. It's pretty much chocolate ganache in a different form, which is quite interesting as the texture is soft this round, compared to the time I coated my cake with ganache. I find chocolate to be quite interesting and mysterious at the same time.

Coat me!

That's better ;)

She made the oreo and cream cheese version, but I decided to make the classic version with a tinge of Kirsch Cherry alcohol that I use for my blackforest cake and see which taste better. As well as I didn't use any oreos, heh. I made plain cream cheese and cocoa powder.

Shoulda put moree of zees cherri alcohol...

With a sweet tooth like me, I still love the classic truffle coated with white chocolate. An absolute bliss towards the end of a training session.

If you're keen to try oreos and cheese truffle, check out Baking Addict's post as that is definitely yummier than my plain cocoa and cheese truffle. Other than that, I shall post up the classic chocolate truffle for any of you who is keen to make this.

(other reference source: joyofbaking's truffles)

Makes about 20-22 balls the size of 2 tbsps combined.

Ingredients

235ml double cream
100g dark chocolate broken into bits
50g butter
Cocoa powder for coating
Alcohol (optional)
200g milk chocolate / white chocolate for coating

Method

Place the chopped chocolate in a medium sized stainless steel bowl. Set aside.
Heat the cream and butter in a small saucepan over medium heat. Bring to a boil. Immediately pour the boiling cream over the chocolate and allow to stand for 5 minutes.
Stir with a whisk until smooth. If desired, add the liqueur. Cover and place in the refrigerator until the truffle mixture is firm (this will take several hours or overnight).
Place your coatings (cocoa powder) for the truffles in a bowl.
Remove the truffle mixture from the refrigerator.
With your hands, or else a melon baller or small spoon form the chocolate into round or mis-shaped bite-sized balls. Immediately roll the truffle in the coating and place on a parchment lined baking sheet or tray. (I coat my hand with powder to avoid the chocolate from sticking to my hands)
Cover and place in the refrigerator until firm.
Truffles can be refrigerated for a couple of weeks or else frozen for a couple of months. Bring to room temperature before serving. Alternatively, see the steps below if you want to coat them in hard chocolate. They last longer too.
Melt either a bar of white chocolate or milk chocolate in a pot over a stove. Place the heat to low.
With 2 tsps, place the ball on one of teaspoon and start coating them with the other teaspoon. It's a 'juggling' type of method. Either that, you can use thongs but handle the truffles with gentle care as they are quite soft.
Place them on a parchment paper, so that it will be easier to remove them when they are fully harden.
After coating the balls, place them in the fridge for 5 minutes to allow the coat of chocolate to harden.
They then can be stored away at room temperature.

Claypot-less Chicken Rice

2010-04-04T03:49:00.002+08:00

Heh, it's pretty much claypot chicken rice but not cooked in a claypot :). I can't believe how the ingredients involved in making this are so similar to the other 2 savoury dishes in my last post (lo mai kai and tea eggs) and by changing the amount or adding a slight herb or spice makes it a totally different dish that has a different taste. So amazing.

Just like how it relates to life doesn't it...and I have no idea why I said that :P

Anyhoo, double post in a row goes to show that I have no plans this Easter besides more training and thinking of what to make in the kitchen. There is a dessert that I am really tempted to try but then again, the weather has gone much brighter these days and so I have succumbed to fresh air instead,heh.

This is dish is very easy to make if you have a rice pot. It's also nourishing and healthy, and all you need is a vege dish to complete your well balanced meal

Makes a meal for 2-3 person

(Recipes were referred to kuali's and rasamalaysia claypot chicken rice as a reference)

Ingredients

200g chicken breast fillets cut into bite sizes
270g white rice
Ginger juice or chopped 2" ginger for meat seasoning into fine pieces
10g of Chinese mushrooms soaked at least 1 hour <----- the start to making this dish
Chopped spring onions for dressing
Chinese sausage (optional)
15g Salted fish (I didn't add this but it makes the dish more authentic)

Meat seasoning

1 tbsp light soy sauce
1 tbsp oyster sauce
1 tbsp sesame oil
1 tbsp oil
1/2 tsp sugar
1/2 tsp cornstarch
1/4 white pepper

Rice Seasoning

1/4 tsp dark soy sauce
1 tsp sesame oil
1 tsp light soy sauce
salt and pepper to taste

Method

Cut the soaked mushrooms into bite size pieces.
Add the meat seasoning and ginger pieces to the chicken and mix well. Marinate for an hour in the fridge.
Rinse and clean the rice in a rice cooker as if you are making steamed rice after the chicken is marinated for an hour.
Add the rice seasoning and cooking oil into the rice and start cooking the rice.
At the same time, heat up a wok with some cooking oil. Add in the chicken and mushrooms.
Quickly stir-fry the chicken until half-cooked. Dish out and set aside.
Deep fry the salted fish and set aside. (if you're using this)
Add the chicken into the rice cooker when the rice is almost dry (about 7-8 minutes) and continue to cook till rice is completely cooked.
Leave the rice cooker on “Stay Warm” for 15 – 20 mintues before serving.
Top the chicken rice with fried salted fish and serve immediately.

'Naked' Pulut Inti

2010-04-03T03:59:00.001+08:00

aka glutinous rice packet. One of our home's authentic Nonya kuih :). Something worth trying out as it's a lovely dessert fused mainly with our good ole screwpine leaves, palm sugar and coconut. These 3 makes the basis of our dessert.

Yes, pulut inti is suppose to be wrapped in banana leaves and not only uses glutinous rice, but another rice as well. This how it really looks like:

But I couldn't get banana leaves, nor the blue pea rice...so it's simpler and easier to make at times when needed:

This recipe makes about 16-18, 3.5cm x 3.5cm pieces

Ingredients

To make the glutinous rice bit, click here for my previous post on 'kuih serimuka' but use 300g of rice instead.
And to make the dessicated coconut with palm sugar, click here for my previous post on 'kuih dadar'.

Method

After making both, place the rice on a place and with a flat spoon, shape it into a square and cut it into 9 pieces.
With a teaspoon, make a semi circular shape and slide the batter to the top of the rice.
Wrap it with gladwrap.

And if you want to take a step further on the banana leaves, check it out here :)

Now then...I made this much for no audience, if anyone of you aren't away over Easter, send me a text!

1 Lombard Street Restaurant

2010-04-02T00:48:00.000+08:00

1 Lombard Street

It really sounds as if that they have no clue on how to name their restaurant LoL. Anyway, we were invited by the contractors again to go for breakfast at this restaurant and it started off with the confusion of finding this restaurant to begin with. It was tucked away somewhere on the cross junction and was not on Lombard Street itself.

Anyway, as we went in, I was brought into a very much spacious area with comfortable chairs and excellent lighting. I had tea served, along with toasts, 3 different types of jam and butter and was asked to order salmon and scrambeled eggs. Boy, was it a great dish to a great start of the work day.

I was sitting off to the left side of this picture

But apparently the main courses during lunch and dinner time are quite reasonable, i.e.3 course for £25 for dinner including drinks. And it's even cheaper over the weekends, i.e. 2 course lunch for £15! Interesting. Click here to find out more.

As well as this restaurant has recently earn itself a Michelin title this year, so it's worth checking it out! Here's a snippet about the cook:

"His cooking ranges from European classics to traditional fare, gastronomic cuisine as well as the modern flavours of today. The quality of his cooking justifies Herberts reputations as one of the best and most creative chefs in London."

Stay tuned for more as I will be back here to check out the Lunch and Dinner menus.

More information:

1 Lombard Street, London
EC3V 9AA
Telephone: 020 7929 6611
Fax: 020 7929 6622
www.1lombardstreet.com
Email: reception@1lombardstreet.com

Opening Hours:
Monday - Friday
Breakfast: 7.30am to 11.00am
Lunch and Dinner: 11.00am to 11.00pm
(last orders 10.00pm)
Saturday; 11.30am until 10.00pm

We are also available for exclusive events.
Bar: 11.00am to 12:00am
Tapas menu from 5.00pm

Restaurant:
Lunch: 12:00pm to 2.30pm
Dinner: 6.00pm to 10.00pm

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Lo Mai Kai (aka glutinous chicken rice)

2010-03-29T01:55:00.000+08:00

Must be some temporary phase that I'm going through, either that I am in the midst of using the same ingredients for different dishes heh. The best part of this is that you can actually freeze the dish for about a month! It is also quite simple to make but of course the more pre-preperations you do, the tastier it'll get ;).

This dish is also seen when you go to a yum cha restaurant, where they serve it in lotus leaves. I wanted to get those but they were selling it in bulk :S. Also, my dear d suggested chestnuts, not water chestnuts because he thought that it was part of the ingredients but it wasn't!Haha, but it did taste rather good with it, so no harm trying it ;)

My ever ready steaming devices...

*kvt27 is going through some tim sum / yam cha phase*

The ingredients below make enough for about 3-4 lotus dishes. But if you want to have it as a meal, it's enough for 2 people =)

This recipe is in reference to lily's post

Ingredients

200g glutinous rice.
250g chicken tighs if you don't want to add other meats.
10g dried chinese mushroom soaked and cut into thin slices.
6 water chestnut cut into smaller pieces for 'additional taste'

Meat seasoning

1 tsp light soy sauce
1 tsp sesame oil
1 tsp oyster sauce
1 tsp ginger juice (I used normal ginger cut to fine pieces)
1 tsp sugar
1/4 tsp pepper
1/4 tsp salt
1/2 tsp Shao Hsing Hua Tiau wine (optional)
1 tsp oil
1 tsp tapioca flour / cornstarch (optional)

Rice seasoning

1 1/2 tsp light soy sauce
1 tsp pepper
1 tsp sugar
1/2 tsp salt
2 Tbsp oil
1 tsp sesame oil
1 tsp dark soy sauce
1/2 tsp Chinese five spice powder (optional)

Method

Wash glutinous rice, then soak it for two to three hours.
Steam it for 30 minutes (I use a rice cooker. Alternatively, click here if you want to cook it on a stove).
Cut chicken into slices. Marinate with meat seasoning above for about one to two hours or overnight.
Heat oil in big glass bowl and microwave for 2 minutes. Add the chicken, chestnuts and mushrooms, microwave on high for 2 minutes , stir and cook for another 1 minute more. (Alternatively you can stir fry this on a pan.)
Mix the glutinous rice and the rice seasoning above.
Grease 2 bowls that you intend to use for steaming and shaping.
Fully drain and arrange the mushroom slices, chicken and chestnuts on the bottom of the bowl.
Divide the rice batter into 2 and top up each bowl with it, pressing them down with a ladle or spoon.
Steam for 30-40 minutes.
Turn over the rice bowl onto a plate and serve or leave to cool before wrapping tightly with wrap and then foil, leave in the freezer. When you need to eat them, remove the foil and microwave until heated through.
Loh Mai Kai can be eaten with garlic chilli sauce.

Chinese Tea Eggs

2010-03-27T06:24:00.000+08:00

The ultimate easy and healthy dish to make! Okai, lemme begin by the history of tea eggssssss...

"Fragrant and flavorful tea eggs are a traditional Chinese treat. The original recipe uses various spices, soy sauce, and black tea leaves in the recipe. A commonly used spice for flavoring tea eggs is Chinese five-spice powder, which contains ground cinnamon, star anise, fennel seeds, cloves and Szechuan peppercorns. Some recipes do not use tea leaves, but they are still called "tea eggs". In the traditional method of preparation, eggs are boiled until they reach a hardened cooked state. The boiled eggs are removed from the water and the entire shell of each egg is gently cracked all around. Smaller cracks produce more marbling when the egg is peeled for eating. The extra water from the boiling should be allow to seep out of the eggs on its own. After about ten minutes, the cracked eggs are ready to be put into the prepared spiced-tea liquid and simmered at medium heat. The simmering allows the spiced fluid to seep into the cracks and marinate the eggs inside their shells. After about 20 minutes, the eggs and the spiced-tea liquid should be transferred to a glass or ceramic container for further steeping in the fridge. For best results, the eggs should be allowed to steep for two days. The dark color of the spiced tea gives the egg a marbled effect when it is peeled to be eaten..."click here if you want to know more

What brings the flavour most out of these eggs is the soy sauce I think. It's one of my childhood dish as I was growing up. And I think if you love green tea cupcakes, loves to try out new herbs, is addicted to chai lattes then there's no harm in trying these eggs out!

As for making them, I used a ready made sachet but there are ingredients available if you want to do it from scratch =). Check out a recipe here. And it's super ultimately easy because all you do is just dump them into a pot and let it simmer.

As well as I learnt something new: The chinese 5-spice flavour or powder. What's amazing is that it encompasses 5 different flavours all in one - sweet, sour, bitter, pungent and salty. And I can't believe that I grew up being expose to this all these while. What's even more amazing is that the ingredients are so healthy and is also used in Chai mixes - peppercorns, star anise, cloves, cinammon and fennel seeds.

Talk about relation in food...they all share the same thing yet give out different flavorsome dishes

Ingredients

5 Eggs
A slow cooker or a pot
Water
Tea Egg Sachet

Looking at the ingredients, it does contains all the healthy herbs and spices as well as the chinese 5-spice powder. Nice~

3 tablespoons soy sauce
1 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon black tea leaves or 1 tea bag
4 pieces star anise
1 small stick cinnamon or cassia bark
1 teaspoon cracked peppercorns (optional)
2 strips dried mandarin peel (optional)

Boiled eggs and the Sachet mix which unfortunately came in one bag. Was hoping to use smaller portions

Cracking the egg shell and after adding tea egg mix

Method

Place eggs in saucepan of cold water – water level should be at 3/4 height of the eggs. Bring to a boil, then simmer for 10 minutes. Leave them to cool abit.
With a teaspoon, gently tap all over the eggs. It's just like cracking their shells but not opening them up as yet.
In the same pot, add the tea egg sachet / ingredients above and place the eggs back into the pot.
Let the pot simmer at low heat for a couple of hours.
If you have a slow cooker, let it cook overnight.
Drain and serve!

Le Cordon Bleu

2010-03-23T07:30:00.002+08:00

There was an open house event at Le Cordon Bleu, one of the prestigious Parisian School who teaches fine cuisine and patisserie courses, ranging from short one day courses to a full year diploma programmes.

And I signed up to their newsletter, in which sometimes I receive nice recipes :). As well as this invite!

So I went to check out the place and the demonstrations of the introduction to cuisine cooking and patisserie of course.

To my lovely expectation, I was greeted by a dish full of canapes and drinks ranging from sparkling water to wine. And we were lead into a room with desks and bags of courses pamphlets.

Yuuuuummmyyy

It first started off with the patisserie dish: Dacquoise aux poires epicees et sauce chocolat au vin aka Spiced Pear Dacquoise with Chocolate and Red Wine Sauce (what a loooonnngg name). The demonstration was very interesting as there were some hints as the chefs cooked and explain (but I forgot a pen, DOH). Glad I got my phone to type the hints as well as there was a break in between, in which we could try the food demonstrated (NicE~)

There was also a raffle to win 2 lovely books and the person who got it sat beside me! Talk about so close yet so far.

The next dish was another long name one: St Jacques Marinees aux graines de vanille, bettrave en deux facons, 'espuma' au raifort aka Vanilla Marinated Scallops, Beetroot Two Ways with Horseradish 'Espuma' (far out, by the time I finish saying that, the whole dish would be finished.

If you wish to grab the recipes, let me know :)

Overall, I find that the session was not as impressive as I thought (maybe it was because the building was slightly run down), in the sense that cooking was brought to a more serious stage, whereby I felt like I was in university all over again but this time it was slightly different as the kitchen is the lab / lecture hall. So yeah...I did have this vibe telling me not to take down this route as a career, and further conclude that this will be my all time hobby passion.

But hey, it doesn't stop me from taking the short courses ;). Tempted tempted...

Red Bean Cupcakes

2010-03-22T04:25:00.002+08:00

I had to think for awhile on the title above as I was actually 'attempting' to make green tea cupcakes. As a 'punishment' for being stingy, it turned out to be cocoa cupcakes with red bean toppings...and a hint of green tea.

Yeah, I only used one tea bag and didn't bother to get green tea powder. Then again, those Matcha powders are extremely expensive! There were super cheap ones too like 50p but I didn't dare poison my lovely friends...

The cupcakes liners were kinda peeling off so I peeled them off coz it didn't give a nice look. Kinda wondering what happened there as I only just took off the milk from the batter. I guess I got lazy in creaming the butter and sugar bit.

Things kinda went from bad to worse as I was trying to avoid cream in my icing :(. The mascarpone cheese that I relied for it's texture went frozen. So I had to whip double cream and added my yogurt batter for taste. Sigh, and all I wanted to do is to use alternative ingredients to replace cream cheese.

Oh well, it's all a good excuse to practice icing! Just hope my friends don't mind the superbly different cupcakes to what I promised tonight.

Green tea cupcakes

Makes 12 small cupcakes (Some ingredients taken from the humming bird bakery book)

Ingredients

100g plain flour
20g cocoa powder (am wondering why this is used)
140g castor sugar
1 egg
40g butter/
1.5 tsp baking powder
120ml boiling water
2 tea bags / 10g tea powder
1 tsp vanilla extract

Method

Pre-heat oven to 170degC (350 degF). Line 12-muffin tins with cupcake papers (cupcake size).
Add the tea bags to the boiling water and let it simmer.
Sift the flour, cocoa powder and baking powder together.
Add castor sugar to the dry ingredients and mix.
Mix the wet ingredients together (butter, egg, vanilla extract).
Add the dry to the wet slowly (to avoid 'splashing').
Finally fold in the tea mix.
Pour into each cupcake tray about 2/3 full. I used a spoon and teaspoon to divide the batter.
Bake for about 10-12mins or until the tops spring back when lightly touched or an insert toothpick comes out clean.
Remove cupcakes from pans and allow it to cool for 10 minutes before icing.

Red bean filling

Ingredients

4 tbsp of Red beans (I was lazy to cook them from raw, so I bought a bottle with syrup) unmashed. Click here if you want to know how to properly cook these beans.
2 tbsp greek yogurt (My yogurt came with honey)
1 tbsp honey

Method

Mash the red beans and mix it with the yogurt. Set aside.

Alternate Cream cheese frosting

Okay I can't really define the amount I use because I made so many mistakes. But this is the estimate of amount that I didn't go over for making the icing. It also all depends on a person's preferences too.

Ingredients

No more than 50g Mascarpone Cheese
No more than 2 tbsp Greek Yogurt
No more than 100ml Double Cream
No more than 2 tbsp Icing Sugar

Method

Mix every together before whipping them with an electric whisk.
Slow your whisk as soon as it starts to show soft peaks. You want to avoid it from curdle.
It would be wise to whip the cream in a cold bowl, as it will show it will stiff up at the right time.

I ♥ Vitality Show

2010-03-19T17:26:00.002+08:00

The Vitality Show 2010

It's similar to NZ's women's expo but different in a way that the people here display different products...but all for the main objective(s) :)

Held at Earl's Court 2 building, this expo is happening starting today till the weekend. I wanted to go last year but couldn't get tickets. As well as me being super stingy, I manage to get them for £5 instead of the usual £15 if I go today.

It was quite a great night as it wasn't too crowded either.

There were different type of stores but all divided to sections mainly broken into career and motivation, beauty, pamper, active and not forgetting food..in which I hung around that area more often for the free samples :P. There were also places to hear motivational talks, how to lose weight talks, and a cooking show area too. It wasn't super huge, it was just enough to cover for 2 hours unless you're willing to line up for a cheap massage or pedicure.

I shall not bore you on the amount of things I found from but there were 3 highlights from the shows. One being this Awesome Monitor where it can monitor 5 things: Calories intake and eaten, how many steps you take (pedometer), how much you sweat and how you sleep. It even knows when you wake up in the middle of the night! Very good technology since it was long applied in the hospital and is now commercialised.

Another cool thing from the show was how food was made gluten free, oil free and organic. Love the pure chocolate samples, the muesli, the seed snacks (they've produce apricot kernel that tastes ultimately delicious as a snack) and they have also got lactose free milk! Yumm.

Last but not least, there were quite cool nifty kitchenware in which I so wish I could buy such as a blender and stove in one. It's pretty much a blender, but has a heat feature. Gosh, tefal was there and a kitchen and knife company were there too.

Happy me

Woohoo freebbiiieeessss

I should end this post with something but I keep thinking 'Till Then'. Hehe, talk about zoning out....

Till Then :P

Fancy a little Turkish?

2010-03-17T17:15:00.000+08:00

Last weekend, we tried turkish for a change. So we checked this place out in Covent Garden called Sofra and apparently it lives by the motto 'if it's not good, I will take it back and re-cook it' or somewhere around that lines.

The head chef is Huseyin Ozer, and he's got like an online website too and I found that the prices of the dishes were quite reasonable as it not only has the usual specials and standard dishes but also set meals and offers over season.

So I tried the Healthy set menu. Oh, we were accompanied by bread and a dish of humus, olive oil and pickles to start off with as complimentary I think.

Anyhoo, I wasn't sure what I was in for as the menu listed a lot of things, like 12 different things to try from Fallafel to duck roll. But this was what it looks like when it came:

I quite liked it because it's pretty much a spoonful of different things to try.

The dish further came with 3 different meat and boy it was very tender and moist. That was the highlight. I quite liked the baby broadbeans and it wasn't really spicy at all. All for the price of £12.95 which is quite reasonable =). They do have Autumn meal deals in which £9.95 can get you a starte and mains. Not bad at all.

Dessert was Apple tea, and it tasted really good although it took awhile for the waiter to bring it (think he forgot).

So far, I recommend it! For the price to try and for the set meals =)

More information

36 Tavistock Street
Covent Garden/, London WC2E 7PB
020 7240 3773
www.sofra.co.uk

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Peanut Cookies

2010-03-11T06:18:00.000+08:00

And a very Happy Birthday to me! :). I was feeling rather 'giving' today and attempted to make those Chinese New Year Peanut cookies for the office. As well as there was this big bag of uncooked peanuts hibernating quite comfortably in the shelf since last year, haha. The steps are quite interesting as the difference between this and a normal cookie batter is that the egg is not mixed but rather used much later in the baking process.

Anyway, I kinda went abit nutty...as usual...

Yes, I actually peeled the nuts, one by one

Word of advice: Get ready made roasted peanuts. This was quite a mission! It may only way 250grams but my fingers were all sore towards the end.

But I actually learnt a new tip on how to get rid of the skin off the nuts quickly. To roast them before peeling them of course, rather than peel them first....here's a good website to go to for more instructions.

It was a great day regardless, with wishes from work, and family were racing to wish me at 12am my time and it ended with 3 high notes: Suprising flowers from my family, my favourite Japanese restaurant and more wishes on Facebook! Thank you all for making my busy Wednesday too wonderful :)

Makes 65 cookies if you use 1/2 tbsp to shape your cookies

Ingredients

260g roasted peanuts, de-skinned and grind it through a blender until fine
260g plain flour
130g melted butter / oil (peanut oil is recommended)
150g castor sugar
1 egg, beaten

Instructions

Preheat oven to 160degC (350degF) Gas mark 4.
In a large bowl, place all ingredients together except for the egg.
With your hand, mix the batter until fully combine (see pictures above). The batter will be abit more crumbly than a normal cookie batter.
Using your hand, grab about 1/2 tbsp of batter and make a round shape.
Use a tool or fingers to create a hole in the middle of the cookie. This will be important for the next step.
Grease or line an aluminum foil or baking paper on a flat tray.
Place cookies about an inch apart.
Brush the egg over each cookie.
Place the tray in the oven and bake them for 10-15minutes.

They were all eaten within 5 minutes of leaving them in the kitchen!

Made sure I saved some for Wicklow Kitchen ;)

Lychee and Vanilla cupcake

2010-03-01T05:15:00.000+08:00

The Ironcupcake UK challenge for March is: The perfect pair. I'm only allowed to create a cupcake with two flavours

The moment I read the challenge, the 2 flavours I thought straight away is:

Lychee and Vanilla

But instead of just an icing and the cupcake, I made another texture to 'spice' things up ;)

I attempted to make Lychee jam!He he, well it's sort of like jam but not done well as fruits are normally removed from the mixture to form a nice texture. I wanted a 'puree' type texture so that people can taste the fruit when they eat it.

Wish me luck...this round there is category whereby the winning are split up to 2 groups: Amateur and Professional. So we'll see how things go. I've also baked smaller portions of cupcakes and made a sponge vanilla cake instead so that it makes it easier to eat and taste, talk about being serious in the competition.

But if you're keen to grab a light snack / dessert, grab this recipe because it's got a light texture and filling to it.

For the cupcake

Makes just about 42 small cupcakes or about 24 muffin size cupcakes

Ingredients exactly are taken from my previous post on my pandan chiffon cake but without the pandan essence. I was abit worried that the cake may not rise as it 'requires' the wall of the cupcake to rise. But it turned out alright after all, I was happy!

my cupcakes looks like it's crying 'please dress me up'!

For the Lychee jam

Ingredients

240g of lychee (1 can of lychee)
240g of sugar
1 tsp of lemon

Method

Blend the lychees and empty it into a pot including the juices.
Add sugar and lemon and bring the pot to boil.
Keep stirring for another 5 minutes.
To test whether the mixture has a 'jam' like form, place a clean saucer in the freezer before cooking the lychees.
As the mixture boils, quickly take a teaspoon of mixture and place it on the saucer.
It should hardened into a jelly like form. If not, keep cooking for another 2 minutes.
Leave it to cool, keep it refrigerated after.

Lychee Buttercream icing

Ingredients

250g butter
2 tbsp double cream
1 cup of icing sugar
1 tbsp lychee syrup

Method

In a large bowl, cream the butter until soft.
Add double cream in .
Slowly add the icing sugar in tablespoon portions (you don't want it to scatter as you mix).
Add the lychee syrup after.

I actually screwed up the buttercream mix by forming a 'curdled' texture, so I panicked and went straight and googled 'saving buttercream'. Lo and behold, 2 links came up to save the day; 911baking and Recipe Rescue. Thank goodness I used buttercream because it is such a flexible and safe icing to make (phew)

What I did with the extra batter as I made 36 cupcakes instead

Getting there...

2010-02-27T21:55:00.000+08:00

I can conclude that gyoza = half fried, half steamed wonton, heh

Gyoza - Attempt no.1

2010-02-24T05:31:00.000+08:00

First attempt! Looks like plain soupy wonton to me =(

Couple of mistakes to learn from:

Buy RounD wonton wraps, not square!

Had to come up with an alternative 'shape(s)'.Tortellini and Rustic styleeee

Over filled the frying pan with too much water :S
Turned the wrong side of the stove on....what a start

Yes, it kinda turned out seriously tasty, as the flavours were all there but the texture wasn't there as yet. I shall try it again as I bought myself enough pork to practice on...

Makes 15 gyozas

Ingredients

100g mince pork
1 spring onion strip cut to fine pieces
2 garlic bulbs cut to fine pieces
1 tbsp minced / finely chopped ginger
1/2 cup of finely chopped cabbage (I substitute this with lettuce instead since there wasn't any in the pantry)
1/2 tbsp soy sauce
1 tsp oyster sauce
1/2 tsp sesame oil
1/4 tsp of salt
White pepper for seasoning
15 wonton wraps

Method

In a large bowl, mix all of the ingredients above thoroughly. (I used a little mincing machine to help me cut all my vegetables together before mixing it with the pork).
See here to wrap the pork mixture.(I used square wraps, so I used the tortellini method and the I-can't-be-bothered rustic method, where I dump 1 tsp of pork mixture into the middle of the wrap and combined all corners together =P. The main aim was to get a nice base so that I get a crispier base when I fry them but I wasn't sure whether they would open halfway, that's why I did half and half.)
Place a non-stick pan or wok at high heat.
Add a tablespoon of sesame or vegetable oil to the pan, and fry half the batch (10) for 1-2 minutes, until the underside is golden.
Carefully add water until it reaches half the height of the gyozas and cover (my biggest mistake).
Cook for 5-6 minutes, or until the water’s absorbed.
Remove the dumplings from the pan and keep warm, while you cook the remaining batch.
Optional: Mix soy sauce and vinegar as the side sauce.

Delima Malaysian Restaurant

2010-02-22T01:06:00.000+08:00

Right, it all started when one of our friends found a 2-for-1 voucher deal to any 20 Malaysian restaurants on the Metro, and with the voucher, it randomly selects 3 restaurant information. And I guess Delima restaurant was one of the ones he saw that was a walkable distance from the hall.

These vouchers will still be on the Metro til the 17th of March :)

And it's base on a voucher basis, not one voucher per table basis. So you know what happened....we brought 10 for 10 people! And so each of us ordered 2 dishes, either mains or a proper dish.

I must admit the ambient of the restaurant is really nice to begin with and we were the earliest group since we all headed after a 3 hour badminton workout..

In comparison to other Malaysian restaurants in general, I found this place standard, more variety in dishes but less in drinks and desserts and prices are drawn towards standard than reasonable. So it was good to try the dishes with those vouchers :P.

Service was excellent, although I am not really sure how new this restaurant is. Waiters were definitely Malaysians and we picked about 8 different dishes to try.

I had Nasi Briyani Udang (Briyani rice with prawns)

This was served in a rectangular dish, with sides in which I poured everything into the plate. They were very generous with the prawns.

...and shared Ikan Asam Pedas (spicy skate fish with lemon grass, lime leaves and hot sour sauce) and Ayam Goreng Bawang Putih (deep fried chicken with garlic and cut chillies). The fish was excellent, superbly spicy and wonderful, but the chicken was a disappointment as it tastes like any other fried chicken.

There was nasi lemak and mee goreng ordered too in which I took a spoonful to try the noodles, and it wasn't salty enough to me (although this could be because my dish had more 'taste')

Other than that, I tried abit of the lamb curry (which was decent) and kangkung belacan (Water convolvulus fry in fresh chilli and shrimp paste) that was most disappointing as it came out watery and not spicy at all (even those who can't take spicy food can cope).

We didn't order any starters and we had standard slightly over sweatened and strong bandung drinks (rose flavour) and teh tarik, all at £2 and £2.50 each respectively.

As a whole, place is worth going to try their seafood base dishes, and to celebrate an occasion for it's great service and ambiance, but not a place for a fulfilling feed. So I recommend you to try it out while the voucher is still valid =)

More information:

36 Southwick St London, England W2 1JQ
020 7262 0050
Open Daily 12pm-3pm, 6pm-11pm
www.delimarestaurant.co.uk

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Almond and Dark Chocolate Chip Cookies

2010-02-20T06:42:00.000+08:00

W00p w00p! I have started baking again XD. And off I start with something simple. Shortbread cookies!

Well, this is a slight fuse between shortbread and normal cookies, whereby I just added an egg yolk to the ingredient so that it doesn't crumble too easily and it gives a nice brown texture. Why Almond and Chocolate chip? Well, I bought a packet of shortbread cookies of similar flavour from America and it had an acquired taste in which I half didn't fancy and half did on the other hand. So, I thought I tried baking them myself to see whether it might taste a tad better.

Anyway, to start of with things, shortbread cookies follow a very simple ingredient principle ratio (thanks to joy of baking):

2 cups of plain flour
1 cup of unsalted butter
1/2 cup icing sugar
salt and vanilla essence to taste

And you can add anything to it such as nuts, chocolate chips all to suit! And with a cookie recipe, check out my previous post on the ingredients. The only difference between the two is that cookies add egg to their recipe.

But with my Almond and Dark Chocolate Chip cookies, I've modified a few bits to suit my taste...

Eat me! eat me!

And it turned out just what I wanted, not too dry like biscuits, nor not too crumbly like shortbread :). And what's more, it doesn't have preservatives! It does make such a HuGe difference.

Makes about 21 x 2 inch round cookies

Ingredients

2 cups of plain flour
1 cup of unsalted butter
1/2 cup of icing sugar
1 egg yolk
1 tsp of vanilla essence
1/4 tsp salt
About 20 pieces of Almonds chopped to small bits
1 1/2 tbsp of dark chocolate chips chopped into smaller bits too

Method

In a large bowl, sift the plain flour and icing sugar together. This help avoid clumps when mixing later on.
Add butter and egg yolk to the batter.
Add vanilla essence and salt.
With your hands (yes, I used my hands!) mix the batter together. Give it a good mix and press the dough together.
Add chopped Almonds and chocolate chip to the batter and mix for another 5 minutes just to incorporate them.
Place dough in gladwrap and refrigerate for an hour
Preheat oven to 170degC, and line an aluminium foil on a flat tray with grease.
Take about 1-1 1/2 tbsp of dough and rub it into a ball. Line each dough 'ball' on the tray, with a distance of about 2.5" apart.
After lining them up, use your finger or a flat piece of item and press the dough flat until about 1/4 " thick.
Place them in the oven for about 10-12 minutes. Take the tray out and flip them over and place them back for another 3 minutes.

Food Ponder

2010-02-17T02:20:00.006+08:00

Back again from another get away and boy am I tired of going on holidays! So good just to stay put and start thinking about what to cook / bake on the weekends ahead. But I have been rather busy training as well as going through abit of a bigger change in life.

Yeah, death is inevitable, but hey it's life. I guess it boils down to how we recover when our love one leaves us. The one thing that really brings tear to my heart and soul is that my grandmother actually came into my dreams to wish me goodbye.

With things like this happened, there was an interesting post from Gabriel's website in which she left a really sweet and personal message on my blog (Thank you Foodbuzz for linking us up!). There was an video article about 'The French Laundry Experience with Anthony Bourdain' and she left an interesting quote after the clip and thought I'd shared it with you:

“When you acknowledge as you must, that there is no such thing as perfect food, only the idea of it, then the real purpose of striving toward perfection becomes clear; to make people happy. that’s what cooking is all about.” Thomas Keller

Per Se Philosophy

“In the end, a great meal is not about the food and the wine. A great meal is an emotional experience. We try to make it an extraordinary one by creating a beautiful place, one filled with staff who cares about it as they do about their home, and care for you as the most important guest in it. Our chefs are obsessive about the culinary details and fundamental techniques that are the foundation of an exciting culinary imagination and a kitchen that delivers the very best products of the earth to the table. No detail or element can be less important or more important than another. Because a great meal is not one that fills you up. A great meal is a kind of journey that returns you to sources of pleasure you may have forgotten and takes you to places you haven’t been before.”

The first quote actually left me wondering into my life that sometimes I can never know what I really want to eat or what I really crave for...But the second one is such a good quote that defines the inner meaning of life.

It's true, everything does relate to food. I can't believe it nor can run away from this fact anymore.

My grandmother mentioned so many things she wanted to eat just before she died. Which brings me to another question; when in life should we actually watch what we eat? When in life do we actually stop caring and just eat whatever we want to eat as death draws near? To what point do we seek to maintain a healthy lifestyle? Does it actually belong to our subconscious minds and desires? What indicates the limits?

Perhaps we must pay attention to our instincts to read between the lines between wants and craves. Perhaps this is a journey whereby I can actually find out what I really want to do in life. And one of them of course, is the burning desire to explore as much as I can and when I can not just with food but everything else.

And now I have no idea why I'm writing all this giberish stuff up and do apologise if I have bored you out of your wits with part of my cycnism, I guess I am just typing for the sake of typing. *she's has now gone to figure out what to make in the weekend ahead*

Fund Raising

2010-02-06T08:55:00.000+08:00

Not really what you might think as it isn't really food related but it's just a post to say that I have brought up a challenge for myself until early spring (although I would think baking to raise funds might be a better alternative instead,haha)

Yes, history repeats itself. I have started training again.

Not many of you may know that I used to be an athlete of some sort. Was pretty much representing my state from young beginning with gymnastics and athletics, and then swimming, and then into social badminton, netball and now I'm at the gym.

I then tried spins for the first time last year. And I got addicted.

And so I pondered 'why not get involved in something for the greater good with this addiction?'

And so, I have decided to do something I have never ever done in my life. To cycle 300miles in 5 days from London to Paris. Yes, you're talking to the most inexperience bike rider over here who has not ridden more than 10km in her entire life. Check out the map (there's a cute comic at the bottom left):

As well as she doesn't own her own bicycle.

It is by far the craziest thing I have ever done in my life. But I really want to do this. I really want to know how far I can get on cycling despite all of my past injuries that I came across in my life. Almost every important part of my limb has been overworked, injured, overused. And yet old habits don't die. I want to take myself to the limits again.

It ain't easy, mind you. I have started the sessions. I have done 4 sessions of spin classes, 2 sessions of toning and 2 sessions of cardio. I have to take extra care that I don't overwork myself and injure myself so soon. I too have to balance my workout sessions with work, in which the load has also recently shot up to the roof. There is then figuring out what to eat quickly and healthily as well as there is the social side of life I have to keep up with.

Anyway, enough of the boring stuff! If you've got spare change lying in your pockets or behind the couch by your half eaten chocolate bar, feel free to pop it into the following picture to support the event =)

Virgin Money - CBRE's Bike Run from London to Paris

In the mean time, I am of course eying out on what to bake next when I come back from the French Alps!

Julie & Julia

2010-01-29T00:37:00.001+08:00

Yes, I have been away again and this time it was on a career type of conference which was an amazing eye opener to me as well as it was my first time visiting the US of A. Boy was I overwhelmed by the supermarkets, so much so that I dare not step foot into the shop the second time! Things here in portions are HUGE. From taking about 2 minutes to cross the highway roads to massive sizes of smoothies enough to fill you up for breakfast, lunch and dinner. There are so many different restaurants like all-you-can-eat crab, Denny's, TGI's and even one was called Happy restaurant LOL.

Anyway, I saw this movie clip on my flight back in which I really highly recommend to you food lovers =). It is based on 2 real live stories of about 2 ladies who share similar ambitions, dreams, and problems in which food was their way of escaping life's cold and brittle moments. This I give you the trailer:

Are you related to some bits of their lives? ;) Click here for the link

The coolest part to me is that I actually know what Le Cordon Bleu and Larousse Grastonomique is! omigosh...something I never ever in my life would figure when watching a movie. Note to everyone: HG is very ignorant when it comes to celebreties and dramas plus little stuff like landmarks in movies.

Anyhoo, I bought some nice dessert ingredients while I was in the states =). That I shall keep until my next post!

Fish Porridge aka Congee

2010-01-21T04:42:00.000+08:00

After being back for a few days with the cold kicking in, I was craving for something soupy but yet filling and comforting. Not only that, of course with this weather, one would just want to crawl into bed and 'hibernate'. Hence I find that the best way to keep alert and 'awake' through this 'challengin' and dull weather is to go for brain food - FISH.

Behold here is my simple version of cooking up a fish congee or fish porridge. It is super easy, and very very quick (Does help abit when there is plentiful of chinese ingredients in the pantry unused)

For 2 people

Ingredients

2 fish fillet of your preference (I used Haddock)
2 tbsp sesame oil
1 tsp salt
1 1/2 cup rice
3 cups water
1/4 cup chopped ginger
1/2 cup spring onions chopped
1/2 dried shallots
3 tbsp roasted ground peanuts
Soy Sauce to taste
White pepper powder to taste

Method

Coat the fillets with sesame oil. Further rub salt and ginger on the fish prior to placing it in a rice pot
In a rice pot, wash the rice a couple of times before adding 3 cups of water.
Add ginger and fillets into the pot
Let the rice cooker cook. If you don't have a rice cooker, a normal pot is also possible. Place the pot on the stove and place the power on high, bring it to a boil and let it simmer.
While simmering, stir the rice in the pot so that the rice does not stick on the bottom of the pot and burn. Do this every 2 minutes. This process is also used if you're using the rice cooker.
Keep stirring until the rice doubles its size and expands until soft and 'mashed' in a way that you do not require much effort to press each rice with your fingers.
Add water if necessary if the mixture gets dry. At this time, the fish meat would be soft and will easily be mixed as you stir.
Scoop into a suitable bowl and add the following in order: soy sauce, peanuts, spring onions, shallots and white pepper.
Mix and Eat! Nom nom nom.

I'm back! for a short while

2010-01-19T06:08:00.001+08:00

Yes I am back indeed and from a wonderful and most heart fulfilling trip back to my home country not only catching up with family and friends but also to actually realise the amount of food variety I was flooded in! This is my first time back really appreciating the abundance of dishes I was surrounded with. I literally was a changed person. More 'Malaysian' and more to my roots which marvels me alot haha.

Well, let me tell you a little story about me. I had a kitchen in the house that put me off from even stepping into. Yes, this was my kitchen back home. There is only room for one person: My grandma who I now wish to continue her cooking skills.

As well as my family, though born and bred in Malaysia, surprisingly have the least interest in food. This is very unusual because majority speaking, everyone I know appreciates food a whole lot coming from this country. So it is rather surprising how I am the only one to be hooked lol.

Anyway, 3 weeks is alot to catch up so I will perhaps just show the amount of food I had while I was back ;).

In the mean time, I am off again for another trip before I actually attempt to make something in the kitchen. Till then, keep drooling!

Merry Christmas!

2009-12-21T19:02:00.001+08:00

KV is takingg a break from her kitchen! In the mean time, she'll leave you with these cool You Tube video clips

Have a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

Have a great break, be merry and sweet!

Christmas Lights....

Guitar Hero

Bread pudding

2009-12-21T06:48:00.000+08:00

Trying to get rid of food in the kitchen before a holiday?
Stuck with a loaf of bread by yourself?
Got too much milk?
Got 3 eggs to spare?

I had to finish this in 3 days...hmmm

That is my dilemma at the moment...but I manage to dish out something that so happens combines all of the food above so that I can leave this place empty for 3 weeks. And what a great joy it is to actually make something and share it around.

As well as it's a food comfort dish too ;)

I give you my lovely Bread Pudding! Topped with custard to send you oozing down your spine.

Goes well with custard too

(Courtesy of suite101's recipe)

Makes a 2 litre dish

Ingredients

9 slices of wholemeal bread
3 eggs
1/3 cup caster or granulated sugar
2 tbsp brown sugar
1/2 cup heavy cream
1 1/2 cup milk
1 1/2 cup raisins
1/2 cup chocolate chips
1 tsp ground cinammon
1 tsp vanilla essence

Method

Preheat oven to 170 degC (325 degF).
Butter a 2 litre casserole dish with unsalted butter and set aside.
Cut bread into 1" cubes and place in large mixing bowl.
In a medium bowl, combine milk, cream, eggs, sugars, and vanilla and beat well. Pour over bread cubes and stir; let stand for at least half an hour. (I kept mine overnight)
Stir in chocolate chips and raisins, then pour mixture into prepared casserole.
Bake for 45-55 minutes until pudding is browned and set.
Let cool for 20-30 minutes, then serve warm with ice cream, whipped cream, or a sweet sauce.

Pandan Swiss Roll

2009-12-19T03:40:00.000+08:00

I was requested to post something about a Swiss Roll and am delighted to share to you my experience about it! I've only made 2 so far but I got it right the first time and was superbly pleased with what I did :). Swiss roll is also a type of sponge cake, but you do have fat in it. They call it Genoise because the whole eggs are whisked for much longer and over a water bath. The thing is I didn't do the water bath bit and it still works.

For this I dedicated to you Louisa!

Ingredients

4 eggs
80gm caster sugar
100gm plain flour
60gm melted butter/oil
1 tsp pandan essence (this is the only ingredient that differentiate this cake from a normal swiss roll. You can replace it with other flavourings)
1 tsp vanilla essence

For the filling

250ml fresh / whipping cream
Icing sugar to taste

Method

Preheat oven at 190°C. Line 10"x 15" baking tray with grease paper, brush the base of the sides of the tin with melted butter and dust with floor. You may also use 10"x10" tray for thicker cake, adjust baking time to 12 minutes. (I did mine for 12 minutes for a cookie tray aligned with grease paper on top of aluminium foil).
In a large mixing bowl, beat eggs until pale and foamy, gradually add in sugar and beat until fluffy (takes around 10 minutes).(Optional to do it over water bath).
Fold in sifted flour 1/3 at a time-important to avoid lumps in batter), melted butter, pandan essence and vanilla essence, mix until just combined.
Pour the batter into baking tray and even the surface. Bake for 12 minutes or until the centre of the cake is slightly springy and the edges have shrunk a little from the sides of the tin.
Spread out a piece of greaseproof paper and sprinkle evenly with caster sugar (this stops roll from sticking to the paper).
Turn the Swiss roll tin onto the sugared greaseproof paper from the bottom of the cake. (Don't be afraid of doing it in one go, have to be brave =))
Place a slightly damp, clean tea towel over the cake while it cools, this will prevent it drying out and cracking when you roll it.
Meanwhile, prepare the filling. Whip fresh cream until soft peak, add in icing sugar and whip until stiff peak forms. Cover and keep in the fridge before use.
When the cake is cooled (feels warmish), spread whipped cream on the top and roll it up with the help of the baking paper. Check out this video clip below to help you. (To maintain to shape of the swiss roll, I quickly wrap it in gladwrap paper so that even if it breaks or it doesn't turn out right, it's still in tact and still in shape). You can cut through the plastic to serve =)
Chill in the fridge before serving.

Pear Baked Cheesecake

2009-12-17T01:04:00.049+08:00

As well as during the Xmas do that I had, I also baked a cheesecake as the birthday boy wanted a cake before he goes on holiday. I woke up early in the morning regardless of a late night at a hens do because I know that it is a special birthday worth making and he is such an absolute great friend. He's been so supportive from the moment I touch down London. This I dedicate to you ;). Happy happy birthday.

Suprisingly while making this, it was actually quite simple like a non-bake cheesecake. The main difference is that bake cheesecake uses eggs, and so it needs to be cooked before eating. Other than that, everything else is pretty much the same.

Makes one 9" cake

For the base
Ingredients

15 digestive biscuits (one biscuit weighs 15g)
80g melted butter/ oil

Method

Heat the oven to 180degC/fan 160degC/gas 4.
Crush the biscuits in a food processor (or put in a plastic bag and bash with a rolling pin).
Mix with the butter.
Lined the base of a 9" round springform tin with baking paper. This allows it to be easier when taking the cake out of the cake tin.
Press the biscuits into a 9" (22cm) springform tin and bake for 5 minutes, then cool.

For the top

Ingredients

4 eggs lightly beaten
600g cream cheese
200g castor sugar
2 pears, chopped
50g white chocolate
1 cup milk
Chocolate chips for decoration

Method

Chop the pears into bite size pieces and place them on top of the first layer.
Beat the cream cheese with the sugar, a few drops of vanilla, eggs until light and fluffy.
Pour into the tin.
Bake for 40 minutes and then check, it should be set but slightly wobbly in the centre.
Leave in the tin to cool.
The white chocolate and milk was used as a ganache to apply a nice white background on the cake for my birthday decoration :). I pretty much melt the white chocolate in the microwave and mix it with the milk to get a liquid consistency that I want.

KV's Simple Trifle

2009-12-15T22:04:00.001+08:00

Instant, quick and easy as I didn't have time to make some ingredients from scratch. But hey, it does the works ;). I am also quite picky when it comes to grabbing instant ready made ingredients too and you can vary the amount if you want if you crave for it.

T'was for a Christmas lunch into dinner do when there was abundant of food! And I mean 3 whole chicken, lamb and beef, bread pudding, roast veges, sausage wrapped with bacon...it was endless.

First round....out of 5

My trifle hiding at the left corner

There are various types of trifle but they are made out of the same principal layers. I had a quick read on joyofbaking.com about what trifles are (the website explains it very well), and then pretty much pick the things I like. Yes, layers when combine must compliment each other (like you don't really want to add tiramisu flavour to tropical cocktail fruits). Lastly, it's best done the night before serving so that the layers infuses with each other :).

To be made one night before or at least 24 hours before serving.

Ingredients

500g custard (I love the brand Ambrosia)
250g marscapone cheese
250g or 2 pots of strawberry flavoured jelly (Brand: Hartleys)
3/4 can of tropical fruits made of pears, peaches, cherries and pineapples
1 can of strawberries
7" sponge cake (I used Golden Bake Flan base from Sainsburys and it fits perfectly)
3 tsp Kirsch cherry alcohol
2 tbsp cold water

Method

In a large Pyrex bowl (2 Litre capacity). Drain the tropical fruits with a seive and place it at the bottom of the bowl.
In a separate bowl, break the jelly into smaller pieces and add to the tropical fruits. Mix until fully incorporated.
Place the sponge cake and press firmly to release the air. Mix the alcohol and water together and sprinkle over the sponge cake.
Place the strawberries around the bowl. It is also optional to top up with another thin layer of jelly
In a separate bowl, whisk the custard and mascarpone cheese together until smooth. Pour this mixture into the middle of the bowl and with a spatula, spread the mix out to the sides.
Optional to serve with whip cream.

Shortbread Tarts with Cream Filling

2009-12-15T06:15:00.000+08:00

Being me, I can't sit put and just bake only cakes...so I've started to explore into pastry tarts. Apparently there are a few kinds of pastry bases. But to simplify things, there are 5 main types (more info here). They vary from the hard crusts to the super nice and flaky ones and they all have different methods of making too.

And so I started off with the simplest form: Shortcrust pastry. Process didn't take that long but I forgot one vital step...poking the base of the pastry to allow air to escape if not the base will expand.

Pretty obvious eh? Thank goodness D was supportive to eat it when I topped it with custard and fruits..

And then I got ambitious further by making a shortbread tart which was indeed challenging especially when it comes to shaping this soft dough. There was alot of taking out of the oven and poking the base a few times just to make sure it doesn't rise too much. But it was worth all the efforts :). Tasted absolute yuuuuuummmm and of course it was a Hen's do that was behind the motivation. So I dedicated this to Min.

Makes 12 small tarts

Courtesy from joyofbaking's recipe

Shortbread tart

Ingredients

75g unsalted butter
35g icing sugar
1/2 cup (30g) plain flour
10g cornstarch
1 tsp vanilla essence
Pinch of salt

Method

Preheat oven to 170degC (350 degF). Lightly butter a 12 miniature cupcake tray. Set aside
Cream butter and sugar together. This will take about 2 minutes.
Add in vanilla extract.
Further add the cornstarch, flour and salt and mix until incoporated.
Divide the dough to 12 even pieces and place on ball of dough in the center of each cupcake tin.
With your fingertips, press the dough up the sides of the individual cupcake tin so there is an indentation in the center.
Once filled, place the pan, with the unbaked shells in the freezer for about 10 mins so that the shortbread becomes firm. This will help to prevent the shortbread from puffing up during baking.
Bake for approximately 18 - 20 minutes or until lightly browned. About halfway through the baking time, lightly prick the bottom of each shortbread, with the tines of a fork, if they have puffed up. Check again after another five minutes and prick again if needed. Once they are fully baked, remove from oven and place on a wire rack to cool. When completely cooled, remove the tarts from the pan. (These may be made in large quantities and frozen.)

Cream Cheese frosting

Ingredients

75g Cream Cheese
132g sweetened condensed milk
30ml (2 tbsp) lemon juice

Method

Beat cream cheese until fluffy.
Add the condensed milk and lemon juice.
Transfer the filling into a bowl, cover and refrigerate overnight. This gives time for the filling to become firm and allows the flavours to mingle.

I added cut strawberries to finish off with. Great recommendation as finger food and a lighter alternative dessert especially the winter Christmas season when food becomes abundant!

Early Christmas Present

2009-12-11T03:31:00.000+08:00

Goodness me, I don't know whether santa is really trying to prove he exists! I came home with a suprise again.

'We are delighted to tell you that you are the lucky winer of The Philadelphia Cookbook.'

OMG

O.O

Yaaaaaaaaaaaaayyyyyyyyyyyy. And you know what's funny? I don't remember at all participating the competition. LOL!

Thank you Kraft Philadelphia! You've made my Christmas season, and I've already picked out what I want to make this weekend!

Lasagna

2009-12-10T06:34:00.000+08:00

This is also a great dish to make and can last you for a few days if you make it in large portions.I remembered that it took me 3 times before I actually manage to bake one that hold all the layers up, i.e not watery. Simple as it sounds, I just had to leave the lasagna to cool for 10minutes before cutting into it. Haha, can't believe that took 3 attempts :P

Anyhoo, this is my simple version of making a lasagna. Thanks to D, he loves lasagna so I get to keep practicing!

Serves 4

Ingredients

2 garlic cloves, chopped into fine pieces
1/4 onion, chopped into fine pieces
250g mince beef
250g Mozzarella
1 bowl grated Parmesan
170g - 1 packet dolmio brand tomato and basil sauce
150g baby button mushrooms
Italian herb for spice
Dried Basil for spice
1/2 tbsp dried parsley
1/2 tbsp Salt plus extra for taste
250g of Sainsbury white sauce / béchamel sauce mix with sprinkled parsley
3 Layers of lasagne sheets (ones that you don't need to dip in water)

Method

Cook the garlic and onions in a pot/pan together. Add the mushrooms and 2 tbsp of water and cook until the mushrooms shrink.
Add the mince and fry until 3/4 cooked before adding the tomatoe sauces. This can be seen when the meat colour turne from red to brown.
Add seasoning to the mix and let it simmer for a bit. Add cornflour if mixture is too watery. Allow the mixture to cool.
Preheat oven to 200degC. Prep up a square 25cm x 25cm square pan.
Add dried parsley to the white / bechamel sauce and mix. Set aside.
Layers consist of (starting from the bottom):

1/2 Beef and mushroom mixture
Lasagna sheets (break it to cover the tin entirely. Don't overlap the sheets on top of each other.)
1/2 White sauce
1/2 Mozzarella & Parmesan cheese
Lasagna sheets
1/2 Beef and mushroom mixture
Lasagna sheets
1/2 White sauce
1/2 Mozzarella & Parmesan cheese (gives a nice chewy top)

Cover the tin with an aluminum foil and bake for 20 mins. Remove the foil and bake for another 15-20 mins or until the top layer browns to your suit.

Here's a nice video clip as well by Kraft if you're more of a visual person:

Cafe East

2009-12-09T04:11:00.000+08:00

Yes I'm back! Holiday was ammmaaazziinnnggg but I must say I miss my baking a whole lot. But I gotta get the laundry and photos out of the way as soon as I can!

Anyway, the day before we left, we headed out to our favourite restaurant Cafe East. We were actually at the O2 Arena watching the ATP Tour, and if not for that we wouldn't be heading all the way there. Talk about convenience, heh.

This restaurant is by far the most reasonable Vietnamese restaurant I have been to, but alas their menu hasn't gotten enough variety as Song Que.

Instead of the normal summer or deep fried springrolls, we opted for a different dish. It's still a spring roll dish, which consist of mushrooms wrapped with rice flour, topped up with a type of luncheon meat, fried onions and raw bean sprouts. Of course, served with yummy fish oil. There were about 8 pieces at least enough as an appetiser for 2.

My main course for a change was spicy prawn rice noodle soup with the usual sides of lemon, raw mint, and bean sprouts to add. This dish really clears up your nose if you have a cold!

D's dish was a bit of a let down as he was expecting a bigger portion. He had rice and pork lemon grass, in which he couldn't really taste the lemon grass.

So in conclusion (sounding like some crazy scientist) we think that their soup is their specialty on top of the rest of the other dishes, and it's worth heading to if you crave for their yummy dessert drinks and wanting a nice warm meal for the winter at a really reasonable price :)

More information:

Surrey Quays Leisure Centre,
100 Redriff Row, London,
SE16 7LH, UK.
Tel: 020 7252 1212‎

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OMG - A Suprise Prize from Foodie Blog Roll

2009-11-28T06:34:00.004+08:00

OMG I won a tote bag! And this is by just leaving a comment in the contest section. Foodie Blogroll rocks! They keep on having cute contests and random prizes to give away specially to food bloggers who signs up =D. Will definitely post the prize when it arrives fer sure.

So wherever you are, if you write more than 50% about food on your blog, have been writing for more than a month, I suggest enrolling into this =)

I'm going to be away for a whole week so this blog won't be active but be sure to watch this space when I come back....toodles in the mean time!

Ironcupcake Earth: Reminder

2009-11-27T19:42:00.000+08:00

I'm actually going to be way for a week but here's another friendly reminder to vote for me =). It starts this Friday (27th Nov) at 8pm but it's American time.

So the browser should be fully open on Sunday till Thursday (3rd Dec).

These are my cupcake entries again:

'Hidden Fruit of Eden' & 'Healthily Applelicious'

Pretty please vote for me! It's my first ever online competition. Your support is really appreciative. I've left the two posts below for you to have a read.Thank you muchly.

Cay Tre

2009-11-26T07:03:00.001+08:00

Say what? Jokes...went out last night with a friend (Thanks Mel for introducing me to this place!) to this lovely Vietnamese place near Old Street (which is about a 40 min walk from my house if I'm adventurous, but a couple of tube stops away). And I really like this restaurant because it's the closest Vietnamese restaurant right now to our place. Haha. Talk about convenience.

Taken from my phone camera...

One thing I found uncomfortable was the layout of the menu as I couldn't really skim read as well as the restaurant had a dimmer ambience. Perhaps, I was more in a hurfishry to order so that I could chat more.

Food prices are really reasonable but they are not actually famous for their 'pho' soup dishes but I saw alot of people ordered the La Vong Grilled Fish that really look tasty and I think it's the specialty from this restaurant.

We had the yummy Banh Xeo (egg pancake dish stuff with bean sprouts, chicken and prawns wrapped with fresh green lettuce and dipped in fish sauce) and the classic Bun Sa (non soup beef on vermicelli) to try. When it arrived, we were super glad we didn't get any starters because the portion was huge!

The egg dish was excellent as the egg was thoroughly cooked to crisp, with a fair share portion of meat, accompanied by bay leaves, fish sauce and lettuce to be shared for two.

I wasn't happy with the beef vermicille dish as normally I would have my fish sauce and cut chilli served separately rather than already prepared with the dish. And alas, I couldnt really taste the lemongrass too.

I would definitely come here again of course and try their specialty dishes, seeing that this is different from the usual Vietnamese restaurants I have been. Quite a unique one too.

More information:

301 Old St
London, EC1V 9LA
020 7729 8662
http://www.vietnamesekitchen.co.uk

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Cookies

2009-11-25T05:56:00.000+08:00

Christmas time is nearing! Time to get 'em christmas cookies in the making. Super simple and lovely simple gifts to make! Also fun for the kids too :). Here's a simple batter recipe that one can make abundantly and you can freeze it for almost a month too!

And if you want them to 'melt' into your mouth, substitue the granulated sugar for icing sugar ;)

Makes 36 x 10cm cookies

Ingredients:

1 cup (225g) butter , softened
1 ½ cup (300g) caster sugar / granulated sugar (or 1 cup icing sugar)
2 large eggs
¼ tsp salt
2 tsp vanilla extract
3 ½ cups (460g) plain flour

Method:

Mix the butter and sugar in a large bowl with a wooden spoon, then add the egg yolk and vanilla and briefly beat to combine. Mix at high speed.
Sift over the flour and stir until the mixture is well combined - you might need to get your hands in at the end to give everything a really good mix and press the dough together. Start off at low speed. Be careful not to over mix as the dough will harden.
Place dough into an air tight gladwrap and place it in the refrigerator for an hour.
Sprinkle some flour on a piece of parchment paper and place the dough on top.
Sprinkle flour over a rolling pin (or use a wine bottle) before rolling the dough. If it gets soft, place it in the fridge once more.
Thickness should be ¼ inches.
Place it in a fridge for an hour once more before cutting them up.
Bake in an oven for 12-15 mins at 180 deg C.

This is the season to be jolllyyyyyy...

Steamboat aka Hot Pot

2009-11-23T05:12:00.024+08:00

For all of you who has no idea what the title above means, this is one of Asia's authentic ways of eating and sweating at the same time! I have no idea how it actually touched the tropical sides of Asia but apparently this originated from Mongolia, where I thought it is sensible to have something nice and warm for the almost all-year round cold season.

Definition of a hot pot (We Malaysians call 'em Steamboat):

A picture speaks a thousand words.

Our (South East Asia) version, consisting of one side spicy, the other non-spicy

And last Sat's version, the 'spicy' side is actually more sourish in Korean kimchi style

Not forgetting the desserts...Kuih Dadar (left) brought by me and yummy Gordon Ramsay style blackforest cake (right) brought by my baking buddy Ket to celebrate a belated birthday. DrooL

Yummmmyyyyyyy in 5 steps:

Buy a stack of raw seafood, meat and vegetables of your liking
Place them in whichever soup you want (spicy or non-spicy)
Wait until it boils
Take them out
Eat!

Price of food for 2 days literally: £10 each.

Desserts: Free.

Company of girlfriends, endless chat & food for comfort for the winter cold: Priceless

Kuih Dadar

2009-11-23T04:00:00.094+08:00

Another local kuih from Malaysia that I made for a Steamboat session. It does have a similar trait on it's own in the sense that there is cooking and steaming involved.

I used palm sugar for the first time and gosh the aroma was absolutely stunning when I cooked it with the coconut and pandan leaves. Feel like I was high.

Most of my ingredient portion comes from this handy website from Sugar and Everything Nice as well as there are handy tips too when it comes to the instructions. And as the ladies started to gorged each down (as usual) I had one request to add more salt to the filling (shall add that to the list).

I loved it the moment I took a bite. The outer layer was suprisingly soft, moist and tender. Moreover it didn't taste like a pancake (which I was glad about) and the filling brought back lost memories.

I had another piece straightaway.

Yes, it was sooooo yummyyy....It really has refreshed my memory of my childhood times where of all the dessert snacks that I had, I was always after that brown filling. Now I have the power to make it as much as I want! *evil laugh*

Palm sugar (my new love =P) and Pandan juice that was kept in the freezer.

And guess what? My brain is furiously ticking onto turning this into a cupcake of some sort..the blend of East and West. I am so fortunate to be exposed to 2 different worlds of different food styles! All to come soon...

Makes approx 15 x 5" kuih

For the filling:

Ingredients

100g (2/3 cup) plam sugar, roughly chopped (can be bought at an Asian grocery shop)
75ml (1/4 cup + 1 tbsp) water
1 pandan leaf, knotted / 1 tbsp pandan juice if you have already made them
100g (1 cup) freshly grated coconut
1/2 tsp salt

Method

Place palm sugar and water in a pan and cook until sugar dissolves / melt. Simmer for 10 minutes until liquid starts to thicken and become syrupy.
Add the salt, pandan leaf / juice and grated coconut and continue cooking over low heat for 10 -15 minutes until the filing is thick and glossy. Most of the liquid should have evaporated. Cool and use as desired. Keeps well if stored in a covered container in the fridge for about 3 - 4 days.

For the Kuih:

Ingredients

150g (1 1/4 cups) plain flour
1/2 tsp salt
1 medium / 2 small eggs, beaten
150ml (2/3 cup) thin coconut milk / plain milk
100ml (1/2 cup less 5 tsp) pandan juice / 2 tsp pandan paste or essence
65ml (1/4 cup) water
1 tbsp oil (I used sunflower oil)

Method

Sift flour and salt into a medium sized mixing bowl. Make a well in the centre and into this, pour in the eggs, coconut milk and pandan juice. Using a whisk, gradually incorporate the flour into the liquid, making a smooth batter free from lumps. (If you should have lumps, just strain the batter using a sieve).
Thin the batter down with the additonal 65ml of water and stir in the oil. Mix well. Cover bowl and allow batter to stand for 20 - 30 minutes. (I used my batter immediately).
Heat a small non-stick frying pan over medium heat. Using a heat-proof brush, lightly brush you pan with some oil. Ensure your pan is sufficient hot (a drop of water should sizzle instantly) before starting on the pancakes.
Stir batter, pour about 2 Tbsp of batter into the pan and immediately rotate the pan so that the batter covers the base in a thin layer. (You want to achieve a pancake size of about 5" circle) Allow batter to set and just begin to brown. Flip pancake over and allow the other side to cook, just for a few seconds.
Turn the pancake out onto a plate. Continue making the pancakes, stacking the finished ones on top of each other as you go along. As the batter tends to thicken as you cook the pancakes, you might need to thin it down with a tablespoon or 2 of water. (I did this after cooking halfway)

To assemble both:

Place 1 tbsp of filing about 1/3 bottom of the pancake.
Fold both sides towards the middle and roll the pancake away from you, neatly enclosing the filing and creaing a little parcel.
These steps are shown in pictures if you click here (Christine's Recipes Blog) =)

Enjoy! This the season to be jolly~

Nuts nuts nuts

2009-11-22T05:32:00.000+08:00

These are one of my little vices...coming out abit more these days haha. But hey, I am quite adaptable when it comes to writing. I think there will be this roller coaster ride where I write from food for comfort to food for health =). I do love the mix,heh. Shows that I am in balanced. Gosh,what a load of crap.

Anyway, where was I, yes...nuts, dried fruits, coated mixes. There are a few places out there that sells from a grab a bag of salted coated peanuts or dried apricots. These are the shops that I pick for it's individuality of mixes in the stuff they sell and so I thought I'd write up something to people of such preferences, i.e. From one who is ~~wanting~~ craving for something quick and fast, when 2.30pm-itis comes or when one is stressed out on her/his office desk and has no time to buy lunch, or when one just like to snack small while working (the last one applies to me since I do so much computer work).

Mind you, these are my observations while shopping. Any external inputs would be grateful ;)

There is the usual supermarkets such as Tescos, Sainsburys, M&S Waitrose where you get standard nuts and dried fruits but it's very plain or almost raw. Suitable as an ingredient for a dish or if you want to add it to your cereals.

Gaaah, I shouldn't have bought them...I could easily finish the packet!

And then there is the Holland & Barrett and Julian Graves which both look alike, where there are more varieties such as chocolate and yogurt coated nuts. As well as there are other snacks even including my all time seaweed nuts (YUM) Also, H&B is more of a health food store that sells vegan or gluten free products too. Snacks are sold in packets.

And then you see these stalls such as The Nut Hut (found at Westfield Shopping mall) and Cranberry stall in alot of the tube and train stations, even the tube stations too and these are much more fancy where they also sell turkish delights and baklava. You also get to pick and choose whichever you like rather than buy in packets. But it goes by weight. I like to spoil myself trying something new like chocolate coated banana chips and strawberry yogurt nuts or honey spicy cashew nuts!

The markets that I see these dried fruit and nut mixes can also be seen at Borough, Chapel and Spitafield markets

So what is your favorite nut mix? This is my top 3:

Honey coated salted Cashew nuts
Yogurt coated rice crispies
Chocolate coated peanuts

KV's Strawberry Cheesecake

2009-11-21T07:28:00.000+08:00

We were at La Tasca again the other week night and ordered dessert this round: Lemon Cheesecake. And so D suggested why not I make a cheesecake at home since he craves for it. And he wants strawberry flavoured too.

I got super excited and started browsing on recipes, muahahaha. There were so many different types and being ultra-adventurous as usual, I didn't want to make a plain simple one. I wanted to be creative kekeke.

So I was thinking of making a layered dessert cheesecake of some sort. Something with a fuse of the New York baked cheesecake and strawberry flavour. I couldn't find a direct recipe. So then I turned to baked strawberry cheesecake instead. Apparently baked cheesecakes and non-bake ones are of separate species, hence I was abit uncertain about what strawberries in the batter would produce. Also, I would prefer the taste of a baked one of course, heh.

With the sweet base, sourish and fruit buds middle base out of the way, I love adding another sweet tinge: White chocolate. Ah hah, not to mention I want to add one sourish layer as the final piece: a strawberry coated layer. And all of this will be done in 4 lovely cute remkins. Perfect dessert for a couple, perfectly sinful in a small portion.

Are you ready?
.
.
.
.

My dear D absolutely gorged it down even before I finished mine!

Makes 4 small ramekins (the ones you get from the Gu packages)

I started off with the top layer as that takes the longest to prepare (baked cheesecake takes time, just like waiting for cheese to mature, LOL)

For the top layer, New York Cheesecake (courtesy of joyofbaking's recipe):

Ingredients

167g cream cheese
33g granulated sugar
6g plain flour
1 egg.
1 tbsp (15ml) whipped double cream (I got the smallest tub and saved some for the next layer of my dessert).
Squeeze of lemon juice
Squeeze of vanilla essence
Squeeze of strawberry essence

Method

Preheat oven to 350 deg F (170 deg C). Grease only 4 of the cupcake tray of your 12-cupcake baking tray.
In a bowl, place the cream cheese, flour and sugar and mix using an electric mixer or a hand whisk at the egg and mix it thoroughly.
Further fold and mix the cream, lemon juice, vanilla and strawberry essence.
Only whisk / fold to the point that the batter is mixed, don't over mix the batter as it doesn't require air incorporated. Only take about 1-2mins.
Spoon the mixture evenly on to the 4 cupcake trays. It doesn't have to be full.
Bake for 15 minutes.
Bring temperature down to 250 deg F (120 deg C) and continue to bake for another hour or until the cake looks semi firmed.
Leave the cupcake tray out on a wire rack to cool.

While waiting for the 'cupcakes' to bake, I proceed to do the other 2 layers...

For the base:
Ingredients

4 digestives or 60g of Amaretto / Biscuits of your flavour.
1 tbsp Soft Brown sugar.
2 tbsp oil.

Method

Place the biscuits in a plastic bag.
With a rolling pin, mashed them into fine crumbs. Start of by hand.
Pour it into a bowl and add the sugar and oil.
Mix till incorporated.
With a teaspoon, pour the mixture evenly into 4 ramekins, pressing them down tightly until it forms a nice base. Refrigerate.

For the White Chocolate Strawberry Cheese cake (Referenced but not entirely to bbcgoodfood's recipe):
Ingredients

15g (1tbsp) melted butter / oil.
50g white chocolate melted.
50ml whipped double cream.
100g cream cheese of your choice (I use Philadelphia's).
100g strawberries blended (I bought a can since it's easier to measure).

Method

Melt the white chocolate and butter together.
With a small blender, blend the strawberries until you get a puree texture or you can mash them with a fork until fine. Set aside.
Normally, the cheese has to be at room temperature but it wasn't so I added the cheese to the chocolate and mix.
Fold in the oil/butter, whipped double cream and strawberry mix.
With a normal spoon, scoop about 2 spoons into each ramekins. Refrigerate.

Back to the top layer:

Carefully scoop out the New York cheesecake and place it on the top of each Ramekin bowl.
Refrigerate for at least 1 hour before adding the rest of the strawberry 'puree'.
Eat! NOM NOM NOM

Machineless Frothing

2009-11-19T18:26:00.029+08:00

I was out one night and decided to go for my favourite Chai Latte from Starbucks and it makes a HUGE difference when my milk gets froth. It was a perfect fix to a cold windy night sipping over something soothing and warm while waiting to meet up with friends.

Unfortunately it didn't end up nicely on the bill. I can't believe that it costs £4 for a medium sized drink (gutted)

Because of that, I started to think the DIY way on to making this yummylicious warm drink if I didn't have much cents to spare and while I was at home too.

And so I stumbled into a really cool page on how to froth milk, without using a machine or a frother :D

Creamy spoonful of foam

Start with a little milk in a jar

Shake it vigourously until the milk doubles in volume

Take the lid off and microwave it for 30 seconds

Pour the milk in your drink and spoon the foam on top

Pandan Chiffon Cake

2009-11-19T06:12:00.036+08:00

This was actually the first cake I bake back in the days and thanks to Lynn the Innovative Baker (author of donnowhattocook and now has a new website called donnowheretoeat) she lent me her trusty cake pan to try out.

It didn't rise....even after the 2nd time. And it was all because I set it to the wrong temperature in the oven! But when I made it, my friends were so stoke that I was requested to make it again and again and so I baked it 3 times in a month! Thanks for all your support peeps :)

And of course, many thanks to the previous owners of our flat who left a whole shelf full of herbs, spices including a bottle of pandan paste ;)

The last one I did...which turned out the best.

Ingredients (Makes a 9" cake)

6 egg whites and 5 yolks
225g caster sugar
140g self-raising flour
½ tsp cream of tartar
½ tsp vanilla essence
5 tbsp corn oil
1 tsp pandan thick essence / 2 tsp pandan juice & 1 tsp green colour
100ml coconut milk / milk
Pinch of salt

Method (no need to use an electric whisk except for the egg whites)

Preheat oven to 180°C (350 deg F) and guess what? You don't need to grease or lined an angel cake tin! Although you will need to get a tray with the chiffon mould in the middle (the cake relies on the 'walls' of the tray in order to rise up. See 911baking on Chiffon cakes for more information).
In a small bowl, combine coconut milk and vanilla essence.
Beat the egg yolks, sugar, vegetable oil and pandan essence until well combined. Beat in the coconut milk and vanilla mixture.
Sift the self-raising flour into the mixture in 1/3 portions.
In a separate bowl, beat egg whites separately until frothy. Add cream of tartar and beat until firm peaks form. Fold the egg whites into the mixture in ½ portions using a rubber spatula.
Gently pour the batter into a 9” ungreased angel food cake pan. With a spatula, spread batter to even out top. Bake in the oven for 45 minutes or until the cake feels spongy to touch.
Remove the cake from the oven, and carefully invert the pan (upside down) onto a cooling rack. Do not remove the cake from pan until completely cooled. Once cooled, run a spatula around the sides and centre tube of the pan to release the cake. Use a serrated knife to cut up the slices.
Store cake at room temperature for up to 3 days.

Want to eat more and lose weight?

2009-11-17T04:15:00.041+08:00

C'mon, I know that deep down inside of us, we all tend to want to eat something healthy for a change or there is a slight guilt when we 'over' feed ourselves with either sweet indulgence or lovely greasy fastfood.

Anyhoo, I found a remedy (one of many billion remedies out there) that helps me out in 'cleansing' my body up. I find that us ladies (or perhaps just me) tend to move towards less carbs and more salads when we diet or want to stay healthy. But dieting means restricting the amount of food.

In the world of vegan and vegetarians, one of the biggest advantages is the joy of eating plenty and not putting on a single stone (don't quote me on that though!). That is perhaps my way of understanding things.However, I was told by a friend that food tastes horrible when it comes to eating the vegan way. That is perhaps the most challenging part in healthy eating.

And that is where I fill that challenge with this! I found a rustic gourmet food stall smack in Spitalfield market called Rainforest Creations.

Can't miss this stall for it's uniqueness and food display

You can tell that it did spark my curiousity to try from the moment I saw this. And how it has become my favourite stall to go to if I feel like eating something delicious, scrumptions, abundant and not forgetting healthy without feeling any guilt.

It's all fruits and vegetablesss...they also have cakes and coconut juices too. Very nicely placed to the themes

I bet there is more than 20 different types of ingredients on display. The look and taste that I sense from this stall infuses a somewhat caribbean, tropical-ish theme with a blend of organic, raw, bioorganic and authentic food.

To describe this place further from their paragraph on their website:

"Rainforest Creations use raw and living fruits, vegetables, seeds, nuts, herbs, spices and grains which are divine fuel necessary to supremely nourish the brain, the body and the spirit." <--- they forgot to mention the word 'delicous'

My all time favourite is the Rainforest roti wrap where it's pretty much bits of everything covered on a humus spread pita bread warmed over a stove. Yuummmm.

Consist of Tropical coleslaw, Carribbean sunrise, Red Quinoa, Wild Rice, Mung beans & Lentils, Chickpeas, Angel Kate & Avocado...very very refreshing when you bite into it.

And in the mean time, check out the other parts of this market, for it is my favourite market so far. It perhaps has the most amount of unique designers showing off their artistic creations, not forgetting that there is never ending refreshing new ideas coming from this place every time I come here. I give 2 thumbs up to the orgnisers who are willing to encourage up and coming artist / designers in making the process much easier to set a stall up and sell / promote / advertise their ideas to the public. And yes, we do all agree that deep down inside we all want to be heard ;).

Self Indulgence

2009-11-16T00:05:00.000+08:00

If you are a sweet tooth like me who loves her ice cream, go check out Thornton's chocolate shop as they have an ice cream section when you pass their store. It's everywhere in the city.

To think that the price is abit more from the usual ice creams you buy from the supermarket, I'd say this is worth getting for. Packaged ice cream just don't feel / look / taste the same then when you actually get a person to scoop it for you. LOL. I'm sooooooo spoiled. As well as the main difference with this store to the others is the wafer cone that you get from them.

Well, it isn't really worth getting one scoop as it is £2 and you don't get the wafer cone that I am after.

For £2.50, you get 2-scoops, a chocolate coated wafer cone, a tad larger from the usual cones and plus you get a chocolate stick too for free. The wafer is not those that tastes plasticy and light. It is proper wafer coated with proper quality chocolate. And on some occasions, you get to sample a free piece of chocolate from the shops :)

Mmmm...Ooozing in your mouth...

So if you're in for a quick fix, head to your nearest Thornton's store. Mine ~~unfortunately~~ fortunately is situated on the way home from work on Chancery Lane.

Have you had your fix yet? ;)

La Tasca

2009-11-14T07:58:00.001+08:00

A friend of mine came all the way from the East side of town (world) to visit me and so I brought up an excuse to myself to try a new restaurant. Wouldn't you know and being 'asian' to value my money as much as I can, I went to check up on any nice decent UK vouchers for a restaurant deal.

And I found one great deal for La Tasca. 50% off the entire bill until the 1st of Dec (get it while you can!) as well as I haven't tried Spanish Tapas food as yet.

Booking can be done online the day before but they can only hold it for 15 minutes before they have to give it away.

I was half an hour late =(.

But the highlight of the night was that the guy at the counter was so kind enough to slot me to the top of the waiting list (after looking at my droopy face perhaps). We were so appreciative!

I love it these days when the restaurants are offering great deals to try their food. It is a blessing in disguise perhaps when the economy is slowly recovering.

Anyway, seeing that most of us didn't know how to order, there was a great menu deal for 2 where you have a set of dishes that you can try. Tapas, is almost the equivalent to the chinese 'Yum Char' but the dishes are slightly bigger. We picked the Chef's Selection of Tapas which consist of 8 dishes and they were extremly lovely! My favourite was Patatas Bravas, which is fried potato with spicy tomato sauce as it tastes like wedges dipped in tomato dressing LOL.

Didn't manage to take any photos as the restaurant was quite dimmed. Service was excellent as food came out 10 minutes after we ordered. And we could order even more while we were eating.

At the end, we paid £9 each (4 of us) for 11 dishes, 2 pints of beer and 3 full cups of fresh orange juice.

I'd recommend this place if you've got the voucher with you and of course that you have not tried Spanish food for the first time. It gives you a great start and a decent choice of variety dishes to pick from.

More information:

63-66 St Martin's Ln
London, WC2N 4JS, United Kingdom
020 7240 2011
www.latasca.co.uk
latasca.regentst@bayrestaurantgroup.com

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Smoked Salmon Cream Cheese Bagel

2009-11-14T00:59:00.000+08:00

I have been craving for this for a long time...yet have not bought it for about 3 weeks now because they sell it at such a freaking high price! And the moment that I don't feel like eating it is the only time that I actually found it at a decent price (£1.80 was the cheapest I can find but in the dodgiest place where I don't really know how long it has been displayed for since that stall opens for 24 hours).

Tesco - £2.80
Cafe downstairs - £2.89
Bagel cafe - £2.99!

I can't believe how much they up the price, when it's actually so simple to make. I guess the downfall to making this for one person is that they sell smoke salmon in bulk (at least 200g) and that is why I can't afford buying it unless I'm prepared to have salmon for a week. Yes, it is true that I dislike routine food. And so it is rather hard sometimes when I cook / eat for one.

But if you've got cravings, want a decent healthy lunch sandwhich high in omega oil and protein and with a tinge of comfort, I present you this.

Quick method for one:

Ingredients

1 x bagel of your liking (This can be bought for 50p in the usual supermarket stores. But if you're keen to make it, I'll attempt to do so and will create another post).
1 tbsp of Philedelphia cream cheese (They sell in smaller tubs if you dislike eating the same thing twice like me).
About 50g-60g of smoke sliced salmon.
Pinch of black pepper.
Other optional extras: Slice of tomato, lemon juice, ham slice, fried egg, butter.

Method

With a sharp thin knife, slice the bagel slowly and gently in half. The bun is semi dense so there is no worry of it getting torn apart easily.
Apply cream cheese on both sides of the sliced bagel.
Scatter some black pepper.
Cut the salmon pieces into thin slices of approx the width of the bagel or your last finger.
Assemble the optional extras. If not place the salmon pieces on the bottom half of the bagel.
Squeeze a little lemon juice if there's any.
Cover the top with the other half.
Take a nice and slow, smooth delicate bite...and enjoy :P

Gosh, I am so craving for one now...

Apple Round 2 (IronCupcake Earth)

2009-11-11T21:03:00.045+08:00

My Second entry for the IronCupcake Earth competition:

Remember the batter that I tried using for my first set of entry? I ended up baking proper cupcakes from them! So yeah...I actually went through the process of roasting the apples, mashing them to get the puree and use them for my cupcake batter. And then with a little spice, I added bits of cinammon and ginger to the batter.

After baking them, I was thinking up of the next idea for these need-to-get-dressed cupcakes and it all started with the next morning while I was trying to figure out what to eat.

I had a small tub of plain yogurt needed finishing as I was actually planning to use it for another frosting and had forgotten about it. Seeing that I'm picky and can't run away from being a sweet tooth and being uberly health consious, I still don't prefer to have a plain yogurt (yuck, it feels like I'm eating something naked). So I looked into my little pantry and scouted for something sweet but not adding to the calories. I saw honey and marshmallows. Ah hah. Something alright to start the morning and dressing this yogurt enough so that I can finish eating it.

While eating it, something sparked up...why not use this as my icing?? woohoo!! I got super excited. And with that while I was having my morning walk after and the gradual thinking right up to the final bit of my idea...I came up with the name for them:

Healthily Applelicious

Cinnamon Apple Cupcakes with Honey Yogurt Frosting and a tinge of Marshmallows for it's sweetness and a subtle sinfulness.

I added abit of Mascarpone cheese to firm up the frosting so that it doesn't melt and with that I could reduce the amount of icing sugar to the frosting.

Taste wise? You bet, amazing...1 got eaten in 3 bites from my collegues at work (that really suprise me because I am always hesitant and nervous whenever I make something). Some of them thought it was cream cheese frosting on top ;). They think I should quit my job and open up a catering business (Aaaw, felt so touched with the compliments).

The actual amount of calories for each frosted cupcake is 250kcal (1/8 of your daily kcal guideline amount and yes, I actually sat down to caclulate each ingredient) and there are ways to reduce them even more by using a vegan substitute but for this competition, I shall place the exact recipe I used. As well as I dedicate this to those who are health conscious like me seeing that I came from an atheletic background and for those who wants something sweet but lighter for a change.

If you look at my first entry, I am hoping that this entry could earn some brownie points too as a bonus. The list of the awesome prizes are below, so please vote for me towards the end of the month (I shall remind you all again):

Voting starts on Friday, November 27th at 8 p.m. at http://www.ironcupcakemilwaukee.com and will be open through Thursday, December 3 at 12 noon.

Here are the ingredients and method for making these scrumptious (I'm such a drama in emphasising) apple cupcakes
Apple Cupcakes (Makes 6 muffin sized cupcakes)
With reference to Mamajune

Ingredients

4 Sainsbury or Tesco Royal Gala apples
1 cup all-purpose flour
1/4 cup sugar
1/2 tsp ginger
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp baking soda
Pinch of nutmeg
Pinch of salt
1 large egg
1/4 cup oil
1 tbsp apple juice
1 tsp vanilla essence

Directions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C) and place rack in center of oven. Prepare a 6 cupcake tray with muffin liners. Set aside.
Rinse and core the apples. Place them on an ovenproof pan or baking sheet and bake for 30-40 minutes until soft. Remove the apples from the oven, let cool slightly, then remove peel and mush the apple with the back of a fork. Measure out half a cup of apple mush and set aside to cool.
Combine flour, sugar, ginger, cinnamon, nutmeg, baking soda and salt in a medium-sized bowl and whisk to combine. Crack the egg into a separate medium-sized bowl and beat with a fork to break up. Add the oil, apple juice, vanilla and cooled apple mush and mix to combine. Combine the wet and dry ingredients until all ingredients come together.
Scoop into cupcake papers evenly. Bake at 175 Deg C (350 degF) for 20-22 minutes, rotating the pan after 15 minutes, until a toothpick comes out clean.

Honey Yogurt Frosting with Marshmallows (Makes 6 cupcakes including filling the core)

Ingredients

150g plain yogurt
2 tsp honey
125g mascarpone cheese
3 tsp icing sugar
A handful of mini marsmallows for decoration and filling
1/2 tsp vanilla essence

Method

Combine plain yogurt, mascarpone cheeese and honey until fully mixed.
Sift in the icing sugar and add vanilla essence.
Bore half a hole into the cupcakes and place one marshmallow at the bottom. This will act as a base so that the icing does not leak.
Add the frosting right up to the surface of the cupcake. Further frost the top of the cupcakes along with marshmallows with any sort of decorations you want =)

Chicken Soup for the Soul

2009-11-10T06:19:00.000+08:00

This is a dish on its own and that you can pretty much cook this dish to last you at least 3 days. There are so many kinds of version of this soup, depending on one's taste of course but to make it nutritious, well balance and tasty do not really need that much of ingredients. The best part is that keeping the soup for a few more days actually brings more flavour and essence out of the dish!

I love this dish for it's simplicity and well-nourish ingredients, as you don't need any oil at all (it all comes from the chicken) and as the cold weather draws near, there's nothing more fulfilling than a lovely delicious soup.

Mmmm...so perfect for winter

Mum taught me the simplest way to make this soup: Chicken and water. And to make chicken rice, I normally use the soup for cooking the rice.

But I've decided to add a little bit more vegetables to balance the meal. I think this is my simplest version of making chicken soup.

Ingredients:

(If it's for one person, this can last for about 3 days)

3 chicken thighs or drumsticks or carcass (make sure you buy any meat that includes bones as that is where you bring out the nutrients and flavour)
1 onion chopped into cubes
2 potatoes, peeled and chopped into quarters (cubes will make them soften faster)
1 carrot chopped into slices
1 tbsp salt
5 cups of water

Optional: Chinese herbs that you can buy per-packed in chinatown. I normally get mine from See Woo and they have english labels =)

Method:

If using herbs, place them into the pot and bring it to boil before adding the chicken. Let it then simmer for about 20-25 minutes.
If not, pour cold water into a pot and insert the chicken.
Bring the pot to boil. Let it boil for 2 minutes. At this time, add the carrots and potatoes.
And then simmer for 10 minutes.
While simmering, add salt and onions.
Optional to add more salt or water to taste.

Leftover soup can be kept in the fridge for a week (just pop it into the microwave to heat it up again) or in the freezer for a month. Make sure you let it cool completely before placing it into the fridge.

And if you want to use the soup as the stock, all you can do is just drain whatever is in it, pour on ice cubes and pop it in the freezer to be used anytime.

Apple Round 1 (Ironcupcake Earth)

2009-11-09T05:50:00.000+08:00

What: Another Ironcupcake competition but it's done online
Theme: Apples

Another competition which I'm so keen to take on. This will be my first online entry ever and it has been an amazing experience. It all started,

Once upon a time....in the beginning of November or thereabouts...

So happen my friend was only here in London for a week and she requested red velvet cupcakes since it was ultimate her favourite cupcakes. Being me, I was keen to bake for any occasion, from parties and gatherings to the point of a joking request. But in conjunction to that, I decided to try for this competition which was themed apples.

As my creative juices were bursting, I got really excited as red velvet cupcakes depict the red colour skin of an apple and so I thought I could add something yellow inside and green on top. As well as they are known for as the 'devil's' cupcakes, I got all crazy with naming and personalising my cupcakes base on the bible, christianity and adam and eve etc. (no, this doesn't mean that I religious as such, but you just can't run away from the fact that at least 80% of world's population are Christian and each one of us know at least 1% of what the bible speaks). I decided to make my version of cupcakes blending the theme and the lovely red velvet cupcakes which I made for the first time. Behold, I call this:

Hidden Fruit of Eden

(Thanks to my dear D who came up with that name :* ).

aka Red Velvet Cupcake with Apple (green) and Cream Cheese Frosting

It all started with attempting to 'hide' an apple the red velvet cupcakes idea.

Hmm...real apple fruit, apple batter, apple juice, apple flavour, yellow colour, green colour, red colour...*feel like eating an apple*

Attempt 1: Wishing I had more skills, I wanted to carve a smaller piece of apple into the red velvet cupcakes but I could not think of the best way. So the next easiest thing I thought was to put an apple batter into the cupcakes and try to make an apple shape out of it.

It didn't work...and my cupcake batter too much it spilled all over the oven =( my heart sank 10 times more just watching it go to disaster.

Ok, attempt 2: Bake proper red velvets but sneak an apple icing into the cupcakes without her knowing

*Evil laugh* I was becoming excited as I did them

Process of making the red velvet cupcakes. It was a whole new experience since it was my first time making them...

Now for the sneaky bit. Digging a hole and adding some cream cheese inside first so that it holds this 'secret' icing in the middle

Now you see them

Now you don't mwahahah (imagining a wicked witch laughing when the potion sizzles)

And then topping up with cream cheese as usual, to hide all evidence...

The apple icing has a tinge of sourish in it but it goes well with the sweet red velvet as well as topping up with cream cheese? You can't go wrong, it was sinfuly, deliciously, juicily amazinnngggg...

So pretty pretty please:

Vote ME <--------- it's not hard, just click and click again ;)

Voting starts on Friday, November 27th at 8 p.m. at http://www.ironcupcakemilwaukee.com and will be open through Thursday, December 3 at 12 noon. (Don't worry, I'll remind you folks again ;))

Am competing to win the following Earth Prizes and they are Amazing! They are:

Here are the steps if you're keen to make them

Red Velvet Cupcakes (makes 12)
Taken from joyofbaking

Ingredients

1 1/4 cups (125 grams) all purpose flour
1/2 tsp salt
1 tbsp (7.5 grams) cocoa powder
1/4 cup (60 grams) unsalted butter at room temperature
3/4 cups (150 grams) granulated / caster sugar
1 large egg
1 tsp pure vanilla extract
1/2 cup (120 ml) buttermilk
1 tbsps liquid red food coloring
0.5 tsp white distilled vinegar
0.5 tsp baking soda

Method

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C) and place rack in center of oven. Prepare a 12 cupcake tray with muffin liners. Set aside
In a mixing bowl sift together the flour, salt, and cocoa powder. Set aside.
In bowl of your electric mixer, or with a hand mixer, beat the butter until soft (about 1-2 minutes). Add the sugar and beat until light and fluffy (about 2-3 minutes).
Add the egg, beating well after each addition. Scrape down the sides of the bowl. Add the vanilla extract and beat until combined.
In a measuring cup whisk the buttermilk with the red food coloring. With the mixer on low speed, alternately add the flour mixture and buttermilk, in three additions, beginning and ending with the flour.
In a small cup combine the vinegar and baking soda. Allow the mixture to fizz and then quickly fold into the cake batter.
Divide the batter evenly between the 12 cupcake liners and smooth the tops with the back of a small spoon.
Bake in the preheated oven for approximately 25 - 30 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the center of the cakes comes out clean. Cool the cakes in their pans on a wire rack for 10 minutes.

Cream Cheese and Apple flavoured frosting

Ingredients

1 1/2 (360 ml) cups heavy whipping cream
1 - 8 ounce (227 grams) Philadelphia cream cheese
1 - 8 ounce (227 grams) tub of Mascarpone cheese
3/4 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1 cup (115 grams) icing sugar
1 tsp syrup
3 tbsp (45ml) freshly squeeze apple juice
2 tsp (10ml) lemon juice
3 tsp dark green colouring
1/2 tsp yellow colouring

Method for Both Frostings

In your food processor, or with a hand mixer, process the cream cheese and mascarpone cheese until smooth. Add the vanilla and confectioners sugar and process until smooth. Transfer this mixture to a large mixing bowl.
Remove 75ml of the double cream to separate bowl and pour the rest into another bowl. Then, in another bowl of your electric mixer, or with a hand mixer, whip the cream until stiff peaks form for both the bowls.
For the cream cheese frosting: With a large spatula, gently but quickly fold a little of the whipped cream into the cream cheese mixture to lighten it. Then fold in the remaining whipped cream, in two stages. If the frosting is not thick enough to spread, cover and place in the refrigerator for an hour, or until it is firm enough to spread.
For the apple frosting: Combine the apple juice, lemon juice, syup and green and yellow coloring until combined. You should get a more liquid layer but to the point when you slowly raise the beaters the batter will fall back into the bowl in a slow ribbon.
Step by steps on to inserting the filling into the cupcakes can be found here

Happy 1st Month!

2009-11-09T04:38:00.000+08:00

My blog is officially 1 month old =).

Big Thank You to those who have been supporting me this far, I now earn myself to be qualified on Foodie Blogroll! Will add the widget when I qualify, cross fingers it'll be accepted =).

Anyhoo, for any those of you who are in need to find more tools, equipment, icing nozzles, food colouring etc, I recommend Robert Dyas but they have their limits. So, I recommend you this shop:

It is not far from Camden tube station

Full address: 152 Camden High St, London, NW1 0NE (Tel: 020 7267 3805)

They don't only sell those of course but there is a huge range of things that they sell (even bubble wraps!) for a reasonable price (cheaper than Tesco and Sainsbury I think)

Check out the stuff coming into the entrance of the store:

Baking trays of all sorts, icing nozzles, cupcake liners, even individual silicon cupcake liners!

Colourings, cookie cutters

Ok, I think you get the picture now ;)

Have a great week!

Cupcake Decorating

2009-11-06T07:50:00.003+08:00

The Make Lounge offered a really good introductory course to cupcake decorating. Leigh was our instructor and she works for Sketch, one of the only restaurant that serves Michelin standard of high tea. She was so helpful through the class. It started tonight from 6.30pm and wasn't too far from where I live, so I walked.

We learnt things from making a piping bag out of baking sheets to colouring and shaping marzipans with really cute motif cutters. The session was 2.5 hours long with tea, coffee and wine served with biscuits. And we get to go home with 7 nicely decorated cupcakes =). I took home tips too such as falling in love with meringue butter cream (it tasted soooooooo good) and using salted butter instead so that it adds more to taste.

Best part: No need to wash up!

Icing colour I decided on. Either that, it was purple and yellow. Decisions decisions...

Pretty 1M Swirls with glitter, marzipan and icing white balls

So if you're keen to play around with icing, I recommend this course as most materials are supplied plus you get to bring home your very own designs...

Into the world of Cupcakes

2009-11-06T00:49:00.002+08:00

And so I was browsing as usual and again on motivation and inspirations in which I am driven by one thing that I can never run away from...

Competition...yes, I have to admit that I am and always have been competitive. I use to hate being one, because it stresses me out, because it is a negative feeling and because it makes me compare. But I know that this 'force' this drive, when use wisely and controled would yield the most greatest thing in life. For me, I make sure that I put this little piece together with passion, just like the icing on top of the cake ;).

And so I browsed around for competitions so that it pushes me to keep learning new baking skills as well as be exposed to the other people who have been doing it for so long. And boy was I exposed and covered with more so links and blogs to other people's website!

It first started with Iron Cupcake Earth. And then you go to another link to vote for the contestants..

And then apparently there is a theme for each month and the voting starts for 7 days for stunning prizes. This month's theme: Music and here is the list of the contestants. OMG, there are so many competing and the cupcakes are amazing. Feel free to explore their website and vote for them before the 5th of Nov which is quite soon :)

I so wish I could cast my votes to all of them as never in my life I have seen creativity bloom in the world of sweets and desserts. Good Luck to all regardless!

6 Bittersweets
13 Bakery
Altered Recipes
Bakes On First Date
Bite Size Baker(One of my favourite music: Somewhere over the rainbow)
The Busty Baker
C & C Cakery
Cake Walk (so far in the lead)
Craftin' and Kitchen Witchin'
Cupcake Engineer (Haha, I would have called myself this)
Don't Get All Hippity
Eternal Foodie
Five Million Dollars, a Good Looking Guy and a Puppy
A Girl in Her Kitchen
Gonna Go Walk the Dogs
Honey, I'm Homely!
Icing Bliss
I'm Just Here For the Food
Jelli Bean Journals
Keckie's World
La Vie
Life in a Peanut Shell
Little Miss Cupcake - Paris
Meg Makes
Oh, Just Put a Cupcake In It...
Pandas and Cupcakes
Recipe Room
The Red Deer
RWarren69
Sie Macht
Sweet Remedy
The Sweetest Kitchen (One of my fav music: Thriller!)
Tales of a Dark Haired Princess
Tastes Like Burning
Treat (2nd in lead I think)
The Ungourmet
Very Small Anna
Whisk Me Away

First Cupcake competition

2009-11-04T03:42:00.003+08:00

What: Ironcupcake Competition
Where: Cuban City, Citypoint, 1 Ropemaker Street (Tube: Moorgate)
When: Every 1st Monday of the Month
This month's theme: Spice
BIG THANK YOU to the organisers (the Cake Crusader) who really made a HUGE effort to make the competition popular and wonderful!

Personal challenge: Making it Vegetarian
Original recipe: Chai Latte Cupcake with Cinammon honey cream cheese frosting (Thanks to Couture's Cupcakes blog)
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Ready for my version?
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Behold, the ~~alternative~~ vegan recipe...

Chai Latte Cupake with Cinnamon Syrup Yogurt frosting with a hint of peppermint

What a long winded title...I made some gingerbread shortbread to go with it

It was my first ever entry and boy it was the first time that the whole table was filled with over 30 entries! Very tough competition indeed. And my biggest mistake was not making enough =(. I made 12 and wished I made more to accomodate for the 100 over tasters that night. It is always the 1% that I missed out on that differentiate the winners from the rest (Talk about being competitive LOL). I was glad that the cupcakes turned out spongy and moist as I didn't manage to taste them (only made 12). I did bake my first batch but it sunk (and so my heart sunk 10x more) so I pretty much used that batch to make my icing.

Anyhoo, was very very appreciative to have friends there to support me and I was even more so happier that they enjoyed the event in which was more important than anything. Thank you for being there for me!

Note: I am no vegan person...I admit I am health concious, but I purposely made them as a challenge for myself and to understand more about the alternatives for food and what they do. Yes, I am such wanderer. I just love exploring the 'what if's' and I can't just hide this immense curiousity in me!

The amount of cupcake entries that night o.O. All over to the other side

To view more pictures, head to my album =)

Makes 12 muffin sized cupcakes

Ingredients

For the Chai Latte Cupcake

2 x Tazo brand Chai Tea bags from StarBucks - this brand was particularly picked out base on my research on Chai teas (I actually bought all the ingredients to make my own but have no grinder available). This teabag consist of herbs such as cardmom, star anise, cinammon, ground black pepper, ginger and black tea. Very reasonable price too.
1/2 cup boiling water
1 1/2 tbsp granulated sugar
1 1/2 tbsp soy milk
2/3 cup plain soy yogurt (Brand: Alpro)
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tbsp soft brown sugar
30g margarine, melted
1 cup (110g) plain (all-purpose) flour
1 tsp vanilla extract
1/4 tsp salt
2 x Eggs replacement - 2 tbsp baking powder, 2 tbsp cider vinegar, 2 tbsp boiling water

For the Cinnamon Syrup Yogurt Frosting

250g / 1 cup margarine
2 tbsp plain soy yogurt
1 tbsp syrup (Brand: Lyle's)
1-2 cups icing sugar (I add this in tbsp quantities to suit taste)
1-2 tbsp milk (I add this last in tsp quantities to create the texture I want)
1 1/2 tsp ground cinammon
2 tsp green colouring
Pinch of peppermint flavouring

Method

For the Chai Latte Cupcake

In a measuring cup, add the 2 tea bags to the boiling water and let it simmer for 1 minute. Add the soy milk and granulated sugar after and give it a good stir. Let the mixture simmer for another minute before draining the tea bags.
Preheat oven to 180DegC (350 F). Line 12 capacity muffin tray with muffin liners.
Combine yogurt and baking soda and stir. Set aside.
Combine brown sugar and melted butter. Beat it by hand for 1 minute until mixture is mixed, i.e. sugar is spreaded evenly across the batter.
Add the tea, yogurt mix, vanilla extract and mix by hand until batter is smooth (these are the wet ingredients)
Sift the salt and flour after and mix until batter is smooth.
In a separate bowl, combine vinegar, boiling water and baking soda. The mix will fizz initially. Keep stirring until the mix settles.
Fold this last into the batter.
Evenly divide the batter into the cupcake liners.
Bake for 20 minutes or toothpick comes out clean.
Allow cupcakes to cool completely before frosting.

For the Cinnamon Syrup Yogurt Frosting

Cream margarine until light and fluffy.
Add the plain soy yogurt and syrup and mix the batter until they are mixed thoroughly.
Add the ground cinammon.
Alternate the icing sugar and soy milk. And add more of anyone to taste if necessary.
When you're happy, divide the batter in half and add the green colouring and peppermint to one of them.
Using a knife, slide each batter to one side of the icing bag. Tap it down until both of them combines
Frost anything you want to your heart's desire...