Pound cake aka Butter cake

For the life of me, I thought I had a post about this cake as I spent a whole of time dribbling egg yolk into the batter avoid the curdle.

But I didn't (argh).

So here it is as I craved for the butter cake my grandmather used to buy for me, I did it again and this time I had to be quick so I experimentally added the floor and the egg into the batter to make sure I don't curdle.

The only part where I got lazy (well a little sustainable that is) is to use the small oven rather than the big one and so the top of the cake cooked a little unevenly.

Nice shade of colour actually

Was eaten up by my family in one shot which was a nice gesture and it wasn't as dry as I made it the other time. Definitely go with the saying 'A pound for each main ingredient'

i.e Same amount (weighing a pound each) of butter, sugar and flour at once.

Took it from joyofbaking (love their website)

Curious? Click here for more...

Milo cake in a cup

Taken from this video clip! But I tweaked it according to the cup I used. First one was bleh coz I forgot to put the milk in and did it during the microwave period.

 

Ok, it was already half eaten...

 

It so does better with vanilla ice cream added too.

Ingredients

• 3 tbsp flour
• 3 tbsp milo
• 2 tbsp milk
• 1.5 tbsp sugar (I used brown)
• 1.5 tbsp oil (I used coconut and this adds to the 'malaysian' essence too!)
• 1 egg

Directions
Wack everything in one cup and microwave for 3 minutes. DONE. *slurp*

Japanese Marinated Soft Boiled Egg for Ramen (Ajitsuke Tamago)

Woooooo, I'm back but just a short period.

This I so want to keep in my recipe book! Muahaha. A definite Serious Eats

[Photographs: J. Kenji Lopez-Alt]

Note: This recipe can be made using leftover broth from chashu pork. If you have this broth, replace all the ingredients in the marinade with the broth.

About the author: J. Kenji Lopez-Alt is the Managing Editor of Serious Eats where he likes to explore the science of home cooking in his weekly column The Food Lab. You can follow him at @thefoodlab on Twitter, or at The Food Lab on Facebook.

JAPANESE MARINATED SOFT BOILED EGG FOR RAMEN (AJITSUKE TAMAGO)

Save Recipe

About This Recipe

YIELD:	makes 6 eggs
ACTIVE TIME:	10 minutes
TOTAL TIME:	At least 4 hours to marinate
THIS RECIPE APPEARS IN:	The Food Lab Redux: How to Make the Perfect Bowl of Tonkotsu RamenThe Food Lab, Ramen Edition: How to Make a Marinated Soft Boiled Egg (Ajitsuke Tamago)

Ingredients

• 1 cup water
• 1 cup sake
• 1/2 cup soy sauce
• 1/2 cup mirin
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 6 eggs

Procedures

1. 1
   Combine water, sake, soy, mirin, and sugar in a medium bowl and whisk until sugar is dissolved. Set aside
2. 2
   Bring 2 quarts of water to a boil in a medium saucepan over high heat. Pierce fat end of each egg with a thumbtack to make a tiny hole (this prevents them from cracking and eliminates the air bubble at the end). Carefully lower eggs into water with a wire mesh spider or slotted spoon. Reduce heat to maintain a bare simmer. Cook for exactly 6 minutes. Drain hot water and carefully peel eggs under cold running water (the whites will be quite delicate).
3. 3
   Transfer eggs to a bowl that just barely fits them all. Pour marinade on top until eggs are covered or just floating. Place a double-layer of paper towels on top and press down until completely saturated in liquid to help keep eggs submerged and marinating evenly. Refrigerate and marinate at least four hours and up to 12. Discard marinade after 12 hours. Store eggs in a sealed container in the fridge for up to 3 days. Reheat in ramen soup to serve.

Egg tarts

Someone should buy lottery...I've started baking again!! Despise the country being hot, today was rather cool hence the itch haha

Behold, my mini egg tarts!

Not bad for first try ;)

As well as I didn't have a chance to take any in between photos with my dirty hands but the base of the tart is the same as the ones I did for pineapple tarts but shortbread type.

Taste: Just like I want it, not too sweet but I think I should hit the high temp to darken the crust next time.

The tricky part of making egg tarts actually is the egg custard in the cup because it actually takes longer time to cook before the crust becomes hard. So it has to be baked at low temperature.

Anyway, here is my easy-to-bake recipe in case you wanna whip something quick. But if you want to take it a step further, I recommend Christine's wonderful Hong Kong egg tart recipe

Makes 9 mini egg tarts

Curious? Click here for more...

Mochi Green Tea

First Attempt! And it took less time than I thought...

Bit deflated...quite tricky in this tropical conditions 

And it was through an easy recipe I found (see bottom of post) =) 

This is such an interesting way of making mochi as most of the time the nonya or conventional asian way is to  wrap the fillings before steaming them. This process however steams the dough before using it to wrap whatever we want and the texture was fun to play with (i.e. not sticky, more rubbery and smooth).

I was inspired by my recent trip to Hokkaido as we tasted the best ever Strawberry flavoured mochi in Japan. We tried the traditional method and it was hard! Check out this clip where proper skillful mochi makers work:

Wished the climate here wasn't too warm as I had to work really fast with the ice cream...and I think it's best to keep those mochi moulds once you buy and have eaten the mochi from the supermarket.

(Courtesy of Japanese Ice Cream's post and TofuGuru's video clip and I took the wheat starch idea from 'making mochi in 30 minutes'.)

Makes about 7 mochi base on a rice bowl cut shape

Curious? Click here for more...

Pineapple Tarts

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

Curious? Click here for more...

Jellies galore - Pandan and Rose flavour

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)

Curious? Click here for more...

Pandan Layered Cake

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)

Curious? Click here for more...

Layered Fruity Jelly

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 ;)

Curious? Click here for more...

Bak Kwa aka Pork Jerky

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

Curious? Click here for more...

Pandan Kaya

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)

Curious? Click here for more...

Steamed Honey Cake

=)

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

Curious? Click here for more...

Herbal Chicken Soup

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)

Curious? Click here for more...

Fish & Co.

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

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

Curious? Click here for more...

Ji De Chi

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

View Larger Map

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