ArchiCook's Journal

Going Peanuts

2009-08-22T00:45:00.006+10:00

Peanut Butter was on sale I couldn't help myself to get my hands on a couple jars of those super crunchy legum pastes so that I could make some things out of them. However so, I kind of regreted it the moment I bought them as I was so busy packed with my design work, hence I resorted to make the simplest thing out of the peanut butter, and nothing beats throwing together a quick muffin!

The process is quick and easy, almost hassle free, which is good for time-less people like me, the outcome was great too!

Ingredients
2 cups Self-raising flour
1/2 cup Castor Sugar
1/2 tsp Salt
1 cup Chunky Peanut Butter
2 Eggs
1 cup Buttermilk
2 tbsp Butter

Topping - Chocolate Icing (optional)
100g Butter
2 cups Icing sugar
3 tbsp Cocoa powder
4 tbsp Milk

I couldn't help myself to whip up a quick frosting to compliment the pungent peanut-buttery taste of the muffins once they came out of the oven. The first thing that came to mind was a rich and creamy chocolate frosting, imagine the taste of both rich chocolate and peanut butter mingling and oozing inside your mouth! >.<

Method
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175-190 degrees C) and place the oven rack in the middle of the oven. Butter a 12 - 1/2 cup muffin pan or line with paper muffin liners.

2. Sift together the flour, sugar and salt in a large bowl. In another bowl, cut in peanut butter and butter until mixture resembles coarse meal. Add beaten eggs and beat with a wooden spoon until smooth. Add buttermilk a little at a time, stiring after each addition.

3. Pour peanut butter mixture over dry ingredients and fold in with a rubber spatula just until dry ingredients are moistened.

4.Spoon the batter into prepared muffin pans. Bake in preheated oven for 20-25 minutes or until a skewer inserted into the centres comes out clean. Remove from oven and turn onto a wire rack to cool.

5. To make icing place butter in large bowl and use an electric mixer to beat until creamy, sift over the combined icing sugar and cocoa powder, and beat until well combined. Add the milk and beat until fluffy.

yield - 15 muffins

However, to my dismay, I could not find my piping bag in the 13th hour, hence I had to use a loose plastic bag (clean one definitely) to spread the frosting, the effect was not really that appealing as the plastic bag was not tight enough, thus the frosting ended up looking like sagged cream, wish it was firm and nice as other peoples' cupcakes! Anyhow, the taste was really superb, the peanut butter and the chocolate, simply delicious!

Yum Yum!

A Snack for a Celebration

2009-04-27T09:58:00.010+10:00

Its been ages since I last posted a new dish, thanks to my beloved architecture course, I did however manage to squeeze some time out of my busy schedule to make a little snack for Yee Herng in celebrating her birthday. Partly as I was still under my vegan curfew, I opted to make something vegetarian, not totally vegan, but suitable for those who only choose not to take meat.

Ingredients
1 dozen eggs
3 pc khaffir lime leafs (finely chopped)
10g black woody fungus (rinsed and finely chopped)
10g roasted peanuts (coarsely crushed or chopped)
2 tbsp vegetable oil
salt, sugar and pepper to taste
4 tbsp lime juice

Sauce
2 tbsp curry powder
1 tbsp turmeric powder
1 tbsp hot paprika/ chili powder
pinch of lemon grass
lime juice (to add body)

Method
1. Boil the eggs in hot water for about 5-8 minutes or until they are thoroughly cooked. Leave to cool and peel off egg shells.
2.While waiting for the eggs to cook, heat oil in a small pot or pan, saute the woody fungus, add salt and sugar to brown. Remove from heat.
3. Halve the de-shelled eggs, remove the yolks and place in the woody fungus pot earlier, mash the yolks, add salt and pepper to taste, followed by lime juice, khaffir lime leafs and roasted peanut at the end. Mash and mix everything well.
4. Shape the mixture into a small-ball-size and fit back into the cooked egg whites, like they've never been touched.
5. To make the sauce, roast the curry powder, turmeric powder, hot paprika powder and lemon grass in a dry sauce pan, add oil to the mixture, saute for 2 minutes, add extra lime juice to give dilute everything and add body. Done, spoon over the stuffed-eggs.

Cathy wrote me and idiom with my Chinese name!

2009-03-20T21:34:00.002+11:00

夜明けに森がぴかぴか輝いている

A forest shines to a bright shine at the daybreak.

Neo Mango Sticky Rice Pudding

2009-01-23T14:35:00.011+11:00

This was something I made just a day before I left Sydney in showing my gratitude to all those who have made me snacks and biscuits towards the end of my stay at Sydney. Ever since, I have just turned extremely lazy and hence the extremely late post of this attempt. Anyway, this time I attempted to give a new definition to the renown Thai Mango Sticky Rice dessert (also known in Thai as Khao Niaow Ma Muang). The new ideas I injected into my attempt includes making the traditionally glutinous rice base into cute little rice balls, some home-made crushed peanut paste as the filling, and topped with a couple pieces of mango, courtesy of Connie and Cathy as a token for helping them carry their tables some time earlier, luckily the mangoes remained as nice, in fact I think sitting a couple of weeks in the fridge actually made them really ripe and tastier than they were before.

As for the recipe, the fundamental ingredients are basically similar to any mango sticky rice pudding recipes that you will find on the Internet, it is really much more about repacking it with some inserts of new elements. The recipe is foolproof and hence I don't see why anyone won't like this dessert, its easy to make and tastes really good!

Ingredients:

250 gms Glutinous (Sticky) Rice
2 Mangoes (Skinned and cut into about 2cm cubes, chilled)
100 ml Water
1000 ml Coconut Milk
150 gms packed Brown Sugar
1 Teaspoon Salt
Zest of 1 Lime
Crushed Peanut Paste (Self made)

Method:
1. Soak the glutinous rice in some water overnight. This will make the sticky rice easier to cook.
2. Cook the rice with a rice cooker (as you would cook any rice), shift cooked glutinous rice into a big pot, pour in 500ml of coconut milk, mix well and cover with lid and leave to rest for 30 minutes or more.

3. Mould the cooked glutinous rice into 5cm diameter rice balls with your hands.

4. Poke a hole into the rice balls and fill up with crushed peanut paste.

5. Into a sauce-pan, put the water, sugar , bring to the boil. The sugar and salt should dissolve completely. Add in the coconut milk and salt, bring to almost boil, turn to low heat and cook it for another 5 minutes or until the the coconut milk starts to thicken up (Add rice flour or corn starch water for an even thicker consistency). Allow to cool before use.

6. Top the glutinous rice balls with a couple of mango cubes.

7. Drizzle the cooked sweet coconut milk mixture generously on the glutinous rice balls, add some lime zest for garnishing and a bit of 'tangy' punch. Done!

I personally liked the addition of the crushed peanut paste as it added another layer of taste to the dessert, it might not be everyone's cup of tea though, hope you like it anyway! Enjoy!

Banana n Mango Muffin

2008-12-10T16:22:00.006+11:00

This recipe marks the last baking for the first wave of my muffin mania series. As much as I enjoyed baking the muffins, I also enjoyed eating them and sharing with friends, in addition to the fun learning process of the this first wave. I am quite sure that I am going to go for a few more waves on muffins before I really call it a quit, there is simply too many things I can do with muffins, and I have not even started with chocolate muffins at all, so stay tuned!

For this last round of baking, I thought it would be a good idea to finish up what ever ingredients I had left, with the over-riped banana left the most, and a mango that I bought a couple of days back sitting around with no specific purpose yet. Hence, I decided to throw this two fruits together for this recipe...

Getting on with the recipe, the fundamentals of muffin are pretty much the same:

2 eggs
1 cup buttermilk
1 1/2 cups of packed brown sugar
3 bananas (mashed)
3 cups of self-raising flour
60ml of melted butter
1 tsp of salt
1/2 a large mango (mashed)
1 tsp cinnamon powder
1 tsp baking powder

Topping (optional)
lots of golden syrup
1/2 a large mango (sliced)
1 banana (thinly sliced)

yields - 18

Method
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175-190 degrees C) and place the oven rack in the middle of the oven. Butter a 12 - 1/2 cup muffin pan or line with paper muffin liners.

2. Combine the mashed banana and buttermilk in a small bowl. Stir in the melted butter and cinnamon powder, set aside for 10 minutes.

3. In another bowl, combine mashed mango, baking powder and lightly beaten eggs, set aside.

4. Combine the flour, salt and sugar in a large bowl. Add the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients and stir with a metal spoon until just combined (do not over mix).

5. Spoon the batter into prepared muffin pans. Bake in preheated oven for 25 minutes or until a skewer inserted into the centres comes out clean. Remove from oven and turn onto a wire rack.

6. To dress up the muffins, simply squeeze some golden syrup on the top of the muffins and top with a slice of mango and banana each. Place the muffins in fridge for a while to allow golden syrup to slightly thicken (frozen) up.

7. Serve immediately or when desired.

To get a variation of banana and mango tastes over the muffin, try adding the banana mix first, mix once, and then add the mango mix and mix again. This would make different parts (lumps) of the muffin have different mixture of ingredients and the two strong mango and banana tastes would not be overly mixed up.

As usual, I like to finish up with close up shots of the muffins to show the texture of the muffins, and allow you to imagine how would it taste like in your own mouth, is your saliva dripping already? =p

Till next time, enjoy!

Orange and Poppy Seed Muffin

2008-12-07T23:12:00.009+11:00

Speaking of muffins, one almost immediately relates to orange and poppy seed muffin, if not blueberry muffin, hence I thought it would be good to include one of the 'hot picks' in my culinary journal, hence this post. As for the blueberry, it would have to wait until the next round of muffin-baking frenzy *laughs*

With this time's baking, I went frenzy with the icing and decorating, and really enjoyed the entire process, if architecture was as simple as this, life would be a lot easier and happier! The sense of achievement that architects always propagate is simply a lot easier to achieve with culinary arts!

I will not try to shy away from saying that this post is more about dumping nice pictures to readers than to push for the recipe, but indeed, the recipe itself was really nice, the texture and was spongy enough, and it was not too sweet, with the icing acting more of the overall sweetener rather than the sweetness coming from the muffin itself.

Now that I mentioned how good is the recipe, it seems somewhat wrong not to include it, so here it is:

1 cup of buttermilk
2 1/2 cup of self-raising flour
1 cup of caster sugar
120ml butter (melted)
2 eggs
2 tsp finely shreded orange rind
100ml fresh orange juice
1 1/2 tbsp poppy seed
2 oranges

Icing
1/2 cup icing sugar
1 egg's white
1 tbsp orange juice

yields - 12

Another closeup, is your saliva dripping already? =)

Another closeup, I reckoned that the icing might not last long, hence I made the icing to be meringue, baked it for a while and it turned out quite well as well. This way, it could also last longer, a good thing as we were not in a hurry to finish all of them immeditely.

Method
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175-190 degrees C) and place the oven rack in the middle of the oven. Butter a 12 - 1/2 cup muffin pan or line with paper muffin liners.

2. Combine the poppy seeds and buttermilk in a small bowl. Set aside for 10 minutes.

3. Combine the flour and sugar in a large bowl. Add the poppy-seed mixture along with butter, egg, orange rind and juice, and stir with a metal spoon until just combined (do not overmix). If you have extra oranges, throw in large chunks of orange cutlets or pieces, that would give the muffins another dimension.

4. Spoon the batter among prepared muffin pans. Bake in preheated oven for 25 minutes or until a skewer inserted into the centres comes out clean. Remove from oven and turn onto a wire rack.

5. For the icing, beat the combined egg white and orange juice until fluffy, add the sifted icing sugard bit by big while beating constantly, use an electric mixer if necessary. Beat to form a firm and smooth, white foam which does not fall apart when bowl is turned.

6. Top muffins with meringue, add some finely sliced orange rind, done, serve as required. It is fine if you do not want to bake the meringue, otherwise just pop it in the oven at 200 degrees C for 5 minutes, or until the meringue turns lightly brown. Remember not to overbake as the texture of the muffine will be affected as well.

Closeup, notice the lightly browned meringue.

The moment of truth, eating time!

Yum yum... the eating continues...

one left... and...

Another big bite! Ok, that's it, there is no point showing you an empty plate right? Enjoy!

Cooky Quotes

2008-12-06T17:18:00.001+11:00

"Moms are the best cooks in the world!"

Archicook - ChenSen Au

Moist Banana Muffins

2008-12-06T17:12:00.008+11:00

This is another recipe I tried out the very next day after the previous muffin baking, but obviously laziness has delayed me from posting up this one. Hopefully I can gain some momentum in my work as soon as possible as my summer course starts tomorrow! Anyway, check out this recipe, I bought heaps of over-riped bananas and certainly put them to some good use. *proud*

Ingredients:

1/2 cup of butter
1 cup of buttermilk
1 cup of sugar
2 eggs
5 over-riped banana (1 1/2 is for topping, optional)
(maybe only 3 is requried if you were using the large Queensland bananas)
1 tsp vanilla extract
2 1/2 cups of plain flour
1 cup of self-raising flour
1 tsp salt
2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp soda bicarbonate
1 tsp lemon juice
1/2 tsp cup of granulated nuts (feel free to use any other chopped nuts you prefer)

yields - 18

Remember to check the heat level you are using if you preheat the oven at a higher temperature, I almost burnt my first batch of muffins when baking them at 200 degrees Celcius, luckily I saw noticed it later on turned it down, saved the muffins from turning into charcoal!

As you would have noticed, the muffins laid on top in the picture on top has a darker skin, almost burnt the whole batch of them! The top bit and the inside of the muffins were fine though...

Method
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175-190 degrees C) and place the oven rack in the middle of the oven. Butter a 12 - 1/2 cup muffin pan or line with paper muffin liners.

2. Mash 3 medium bananas with a fork, cream together with vanilla extract, butter and buttermilk, Beat in the eggs, salt, baking powder, soda bicarbonate and lemon juice. In another bowl, mix sifted flour and self-raising flour. Stir the flour mixture into the wet mixture (or vice verse) alternately until mixture is just combined.

3. Slice 1 1/2 bananas to about 1 cm cutlets, fill muffin cups halfway, add a slice of banana, add another layer of batter to cover and seal off the banana and batter below. Top with another thin slice of diagonally cut banana (optional).

4. Bake about 20-25 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Place on a wire rack to cook for 5 minutes and then remove muffins from pan.

5. Serve warm or reheat when required.

Time to eat...yum yum...

Apple n Oats Rasberry Jam Muffin

2008-12-04T13:42:00.009+11:00

Its around times like this when my postings just cant keep up to pace with my baking, with one more recipe to post and another coming up tonight, I am wondering when will I get to finish posting all these recipes!? Nevertheless, determined to bake one recipe every night this week, I think the ones who will really benefit are those who really read this blog and try out the recipes (not forgetting the ones who eat the muffins, laughs*)

Today's post is a slightly more healthy one, apples and oats, what else can a weight watcher ask for? If you really want to watch that belly, throw in wheat flour and muesli as well, that will really top of the nutrition for this recipe. As for now, I will stick to just apples and rolled oats, and let the other guilt-laden senses (strictly related to taste buds only) overwhelm the notion of being healthy.

The muffins fresh from the oven, looks like adding the self-raising flour certainly has made the muffins 'puff'. This simply proofs the previous recipe to be workable and quite successful! "Excitement!*

Leave the muffins to cool for about 5-10 minutes before removing from the tray, place on wire rack to further cool it down.

The muffins posing for a good shot, I actually thought of posting all the pictures of them posing, but finally decided not to, considering there were too many of them. I think I should restrain myself from taking food pictures obsessively, it is starting to take up a lot of space in my storage hard drives.

Just before I forget, here is the recipe used this time, I am considering to make another come back on apple muffins some time in the future, and I might just improvise from here or something:

2 large eggs
2 cups of flour
1 cup of self-raising flour
1 1/2 cups of buttermilk
1 cup of sugar
3 tsps of baking powder
1 tsp bicarbonate soda
1 tsp lime juice
2 apples (skinned and grated)
1 cup of rolled oats
2 tsps cinnamon powder
1 1/2 tsp salt
2 tbsp butter
1/4 cup of raspberry jam of your choice + extra 24 tsp

yields - 24 muffins

Method

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175-180 degrees C) and place the oven rack in the middle of the oven. Butter a 12 - 1/2 cup muffin pan or line with paper muffin liners.

2. Cream together the butter, buttermilk, raspberry jam and sugar. Beat in the eggs, salt, baking powder, soda bicarbonate and lemon juice. In another bowl, mix sifted flour, self-raising flour and cinnamon powder with rolled oats and grated apple. Stir the flour mixture into the wet mixture (or vice verse) alternately until mixture is just combined.

3. Fill muffin cups halfway, add a tsp of jam, make sure you make it bulge and not spread over the whole batter to make it easier to seal later on. Add another layer of batter to cover and seal off the jam.

4. Bake about 20-25 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Place on a wire rack to cook for 5 minutes and then remove muffins from pan.

5. Serve warm or reheat when required.

Finally, the true moment the next morning, where the muffins are teared apart with white steam oozing from each torn bits... *Yum Yum* To reheat, just chuck the muffins into the microwave oven for a minute or a bit more, remember to thaw them for abut 10 minutes or preferably more if you took them out from the refrigerator.

Another close shot, I think the microwave has vaporized the jam fillings, I shall try it fresh from the oven next time, otherwise, I might have to add custard powder to thicken the fillings, preventing them from turning out as it is now.

As you might have noticed, I did not have fillings for all of the muffins, but I think having that extra filling makes the eating process more interesting, so do chuck in it there when you do try out this recipe. I simply could not fill every muffins as I ran out jam halfway through the process.

Enjoy!

*The End*

Cinnamon Sugar Muffins

2008-12-03T17:03:00.010+11:00

After the first two come-backs on baking muffin, I continued exploring the Internet for inspirations and ways to improve my baking techniques, when I came across this website called Joy of Baking, it almost instantly came across my mind: "ah hah! This is it!" I actually think that all bakers should visit that website at least once (now included in my foodie list), as all the content published in it has a lot of thought and considerations put into it. As for those who just started baking, I think the tips and techniques explained in the posts will definitely help to improve your (and my own) baking!

Moving on from the discoveries and findings learnt from Stephanie, I moved on to write and improvise recipes, as usual. This time around, I started off with something less complicated so that I can test some techniques mentioned in Joy of Baking.com, the result? Walah! I personally thought the quality of the muffins have improved significantly! Give it a shot, I think muffins are hard to get wrong with once you mastered the basic techniques, what more, it is a simple cinnamon sugar muffin, it is easy as 1-2-3. =)

The muffins just came out fresh from the oven, I was removing them but they turned out to be too hot, hence I left it for a while, could not resist myself from taking a photo...

The ingredients are as following (improvised from muffinrecipes.net):

2 medium eggs.
1 cup of self-raising flour.
2 cups of plain flour.
1 cup of buttermilk.
1 cup of sugar.
5 tbsps of butter.
5 tbps of shortening.
3 tsps of baking powder.
1 tsp of soda bicarbonate.
1 tsp lemon juice
1 tspn of salt.
1/2 tspn of nutmeg.

Topping:
1/2 cup of melted butter.
1/4 cup of castor sugar
1/4 cup of brown sugar
1 tablespoon of cinnamon. (or more)

Yields: 12 crown muffins

Method:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 - 180 degrees C) and place the oven rack in the middle of the oven. Butter or spray with vegetable oil spray a 12 - 1/2 cup muffin pan.

2. Cream together the butter, the shortening and the sugar. Beat in the eggs, salt, nutmeg, baking powder, soda bicarbonate and lemon juice. Stir in the flour and milk alternately until mixture is just combined.

3. Fill muffin cups to the top.

4. Bake about 20-25 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Place on a wire rack to cook for five minutes and then remove muffins from pan.

5. Blend together the castor and brown sugar together with the cinnamon powder. Dip each muffin in the melted butter. Roll each muffin in the cinnamon sugar blend, I only did this to the top of the muffin as I did not want the muffins to be too sweet.

The muffins coated with cinnamon sugar blend, beware weigh watchers!

I tried to capture the texture of the muffins in this photo(above), but the lighting was really bad, nevertheless I posted it as the contrast between the front back muffins was interesting (from my point of view).

I tried taking photos of the muffins again in the morning, obviously there was not much left on the plate, you could imagine where they went over the night, not me! but my housemates! Laughing*

Another shot of two muffins together, the lighting in the morning helped a lot with the photos, maybe I should try using white light when taking photos at night, when I bake...

The final shot before it went into my stomach, look at that texture of the muffin! Thank you daylight!

Cooky Quotes

2008-11-29T22:06:00.002+11:00

"A house is like a human body, and the kitchen... its heart."

Archicook - ChenSen Au

Back to basics on Baking

2008-11-26T17:21:00.007+11:00

It has been ages since I baked any Western things, and hence I thought it would be good if I could come up with a succesful baked pastry or something after leaving this blog for about a month, but obviously my skills proofed me wrong yesterday. I attempted a recipe that I imrpovised from www.muffinrecipes.net, and thought that it would be great success! So much for all the excitement and effort I put into it. =(

The following is the recipe for the brandy-scented carrot and raisin muffins, I think the recipe was ok, the thing that went wrong should be my rusty-techniques instead of the recipe:
5 large eggs,
4_1/2 cups of plain flour,
3 cups carrot (grated, shreded or finely sliced),
2 cups packed brown sugar (feel free to add more),
1_1/2 cup vegetable oil,
3/4 cup brandy (you can opt for imitations, its only for the smell of the muffins),
1 cup raisins,
1 cup granulated nuts (or other desired nuts),
6 tsp baking powder,
3 tsp soda bicarbonate,
1/2 tsp cinnamon powder,
1/2 tsp ground nutmeg,
3/4 tsp salt,
1 cup buttermilk,
2 tbsp vanilla essence.

The outcome of the 3 batches of muffins varied, the first batch was overburnt a bit and tough, the second batch was better, but its texture could use more fluffiness >.<. Thank God the last batch which I left to sit a while finally came out with a texture and taste that I was satisfied with, and I sure wish I had more batter to go for the last batch, which I could then give to others to show the success of the baking! =( Method:
1. Preheat oven to 200°C
2. Combine the all-purpose flour (sifted), vanilla essence, cinnamon powder, nutmeg, baking powder, soda bicarbonate and salt.
3. Beat together the eggs and the brown sugar. Add the shredded carrots, raisins (pre-soaked with brandy), granulated nuts, buttermilk and oil; mix thoroughly.
4. Add the flour mixture and stir until the dry ingredients have moistened.
5. Spoon the batter into twelve greased muffin cups.
6. Lower oven heat to 175°C, bake for 20 -25 minutes.

After much despair and Internet research over the night, I gave muffins another try just this morning, considering the 'complexity' of baking muffins, I decided to make the most basic type of muffins, with one or two additional ingredients. The result was a lot better than yesterday's carrot and raisin muffins! They definitely rise a lot more than yesterday's recipe, and a lot fluffier too, thanks to the baking powder and baking soda, not forgetting the lime juice! Muaks*

Today's basic malt-muffin recipe:
2 large eggs,
1/2 cup melted maltose,
2_1/2 tsp baking powder,
1 tsp soda bicarbonate,
2_1/2 cups plain flour,
1/2 cup buttermilk,
1/4 cup packed brown sugar,
1/2 cup oil (or melted butter),
1 small tsp salt,
1/3 cup sultanas.

In making muffins, the rule-of-thumb is to mix the dry and wet ingredients seperately, then fold the dry ingredients into the wet batter (or vice-versa), remember not to overmix the batter as it will make the muffin's texture. I guess that explains most of the steps for this basic malt-muffin does it?

Satisfied with this basic malt-muffin, I think I am going to bake another round of muffins in a day or two's time, hopefully the next round would be as successful, or even better than todays...till then... =)

Cooky Quotes

2008-11-26T17:18:00.002+11:00

"If you can mix-n-match building materials and technology in architecture, you definitely can mix-n-match ingredients and tastes in culinary arts"

Archicook - ChenSen Au

Spiced Sweet and Sour Cauliflower

2008-10-21T21:30:00.003+11:00

Ingredients
1 cauliflower (about 500g), 1 carrot (sliced), 2 tomatoes (thinly sliced), 1 onion (coarsely sliced), 8 tbsp tomato ketchup (you can opt for a can of tomato puree), salt and pepper to taste, 1 tbsp thyme, 1tbsp brown sugar, 1 tbsp lemon juice, 4 tbsp butter.

Method
1. Clean the cauliflower thoroughly, cut off the stem, remove the thick skin and slice to thin pieces. Steam the cauliflower using steamer until it is soft, literally 'melts in the mouth'. (you can use a pot of water to braise if you really cannot find a steamer big enough.
2. Remove the cauliflower from heat, brush 3tbsp worth of butter all over the cauliflower while it is still warm, sprinkle with salt and pepper.
3. Melt the remaining butter in a pan or work, saute the onion until golden brown, stir in the carrots and the cauliflower stem, saute over high heat, add salt and pepper to taste.
4. Stir in tomato ketchup at this point, add 1/4 cup of water, mix well and bring to boil, turn to low heat, stir in thyme, sugar and lemon juice, braise until the sauce thickens. Done.
5. Place most of the ingredients on a plate, top with the cauliflower, pour remaining sauce on top of cauliflower. Garnish with tomatoes and coriander.

Rasberry Jam and Rosemarry Soy Roasted Pork

2008-10-21T20:53:00.005+11:00

Ingredients
1kg pork belly (or pork roast), 230g raspberry jam, 2tbsp dried rosemary, 1 tbsp hot paprika, 1 cup Chinese shao xing cooking rice wine (feel free to use any sweet red wines if you want), 4 cloves garlic (finely chopped), 400g button mushroom (sliced), 8 tbsp light soy sauce, 1 tbsp dark soy sauce, 1 tbsp brown sugar, 2tbsp freshly cracked sea salt and black pepper each, 2 tbsp corn flour, coriander to garnish, 1tbsp butter, extra 2 tbsp raspberry jam for the sauce.

the freshly-roasted pork sliced on the cutting board, I personally thought it would better if the meat was a bit more raw, or red-ish.

Method
1. Clean and score the pork belly on both faces with a sharp knife, rub it fresh cracked sea salt and black pepper.
2. In a mixing bowl, bring together 200g of raspberry jam, 6 tbsp light soy sauce, dark soy sauce, dried rosemary, hot paprika, sugar and cooking wine, mix well and rub thoroughly onto the meat, coating much of coarse ingredients onto the top skin layer, leave aside to marinade for at least 3 hours (overnight preferably).

3. Preheat oven to 200 degrees Celsius. Wrap the pork with aluminium foil, pour in all the extra marinade sauce as well, seal tightly. Roast over a layer of water in the oven for about 1 hour.
4. After an hour, loosen the seal of the wrap, exposing the skin layer of the pork to direct heat, roast another 20-30 minutes at 220-240 degrees Celsius to get a crisp skin layer. Remove from oven and leave in room temperature to cool.

5. To make the sauce, pour all the sauce from the roasting pan into a heated sauce pan, add in the sliced button mushrooms and bring to boil over medium heat, add the extra raspberry jam and light soy sauce when it starts to boil, make sure everything is well dissolved, add some black pepper powder if desired.
6. Dilute the corn flour with 4tbsp of water, stir in the sauce so that it thickens up, toss in the butter right after turning off the heat. Done, pour sauce over meat to serve.

*Note: feel free to add in fresh rasberry to the sauce, I just couldn't find them from the nearby store the other day.

Spicy Leaf-Mustard Cabbage and Peanut Soup

2008-10-21T13:37:00.005+11:00

Ingredients
1 large onion(chopped into large 8 pieces), 4 pc dried chili (de-seeded, coarsely chopped), 300g peanuts, 200g leaf-mustard cabbage (known as Mui Choi in Cantonese), 1 tbsp oil, 500g pork bones, water, fresh salt and cracked black pepper corn.

Method
1. Saute the onion, chili and peanuts in a heated pot with the oil, add the bones, saute for another 3-5 minutes, add fresh sea salt and cracked black pepper corn, saute for another 3 minutes.
2.Add water to almost fill the pot, turn to high heat, bring to boil with lid covered. Remove lid after the pot of water boils, add in washed and chopped leaf-mustard cabbage, wait till boil again, turn to medium-low heat, cover with lid and braise for 2 hours or so, the longer the better.
3. Season again with salt and pepper to taste when serving, garnish with chopped coriander.

Japanese Curry Bread Box

2008-10-21T13:00:00.007+11:00

Just before I get to occupied with assignments and forget how I made this, I thought it would be a good idea to publish this one. Unfortunately I do not have much time to do much explanation, so I will just get to the point with the recipe, hopefully everyone is fine with it, and another thing, this is going to be the first of a series of recipes without much write-ups, I only have time to get them published with a little spare time off my assignments, ARCHITORTURE... =(

Ingredients
1 loaf of fresh Cumin herbed bread load (or any bread), 8 pc chicken drumstick, 100-150g prepacked Japanese curry mix (use more if desired), 1 red Spanish onion (diced), 5 cloves garlic, 2 tbsp butter, 2 tomatoes (1 diced, another sliced into 8 pieces), 4 pieces large potato (skinned and coarsely chopped), water, 1 tbsp oil, 3 tbsp turmeric powder, 2 tbsp light soy sauce, salt and pepper to taste, coriander for garnishing.

Method
1. Wash the chicken drumsticks thoroughly, lightly score with a sharp knife, rub in with oil, light soy sauce, turmeric powder, salt and pepper, leave aside to marinate for 10-15 minutes.

2. Preheat grill or oven to the hottest temperature, roast the marinated drumsticks for about 20-30 minutes, turning them in between to make sure they are thoroughly roasted.

3. Meanwhile, heat a large pot, melt butter, throw in garlic and diced onion, saute until slightly brown by adding salt and sugar in between. Add in diced tomato and saute for another 3-5 minutes.

4. Add in Japanese curry mix, saute until fragrant and add water to cover half the pot, add salt and pepper, bring to boil, add in chopped potatoes and turn to low-medium heat, simmer with lid covered for about 35-45 minutes (the longer the better).

5. Remove drumsticks from oven or grill, leave aside to cool for about 5 minutes, pour everything in the roasting/ grilling pan into the pot of curry, leave it to simmer for another 10-15 minutes, season with salt, pepper and sugar (Japanese curry should be sweet) to taste. Throw in the remaining tomatoes now as well.

6. While waiting for the curry to be ready, carve a rectilinear hole out of the bread loaf, pack the carved-outs into the bottom of the bread so it doesn't melt away easily later when the curry is poured inside. Used the extras to thicken up the curry (the potatoes should already have done this job anyway).

7. Done, pour the curry and ingredients into the bread box and enjoy peeling the bread off to match the curry's gravy!

Chick Pea Salad with Buttered Five Spice Dressing

2008-10-15T23:28:00.004+11:00

It's week 11! All the assignments are coming in and at times it just feels like my brain is going to blow off! Nevertheless, I chose to procrastinate tonight by updating my blog with a couple of dishes that I tried last few days, or maybe last week...

The idea of cooking chickpea the Malaysian way would easily revoke the idea of those chickpea stalls run by Indian hawkers at night markets, found throughout Malaysia. The strong smell of fresh chick pea, Yum! Yum! With this dish however, I decided to let the taste of chick pea to sit secondary to the taste of the five spice sauce and fresh coriander, I think the taste was not bad, but could be better if the sauce was thicker, hence the improvised recipe provided here...

Ingredients
800g chick pea (preferably fresh ones, otherwise canned ones will do), 500g fresh bean sprouts, a generous bunch of fresh coriander, 2-3 tbsp butter, 3 cloves garlic (finely chopped), 3 tbsp five spice powder, 8 tbsp water, 1 tbsp hot paprika, fresh salt and pepper to taste.

Method
1. Boil a pot of water, add a pinch of salt, add in the chick pea, cook until the water boils again. Remove chick pea from water, mix with 1 tbsp butter while hot, leave to cool.
2. Cook bean sprouts for no more than 3 minutes in the same pot of boiling water, rinse in ice cold water immediately, leave aside.
3. Melt 1tbsp butter in a saucepan, add five spice powder and hot paprika powder, saute over low heat while adding water bit by bit, make sure the sauce is considerably thick, melt the remaining butter in sauce after adding all water.
4. Mix chick pea, bean sprouts and chopped fresh coriander in a salad bowl, add in the buttered five spice sauce, toss well to dress, add salt and pepper to taste. Done.

Rosemary - roasted Pork

2008-09-27T11:29:00.005+10:00

This dish was made the same day as the green bean salad the other day, but somehow I thought it would be better for me to keep it until today to post it. Why? Maybe to celebrate the start of the session break? Haha Hooray! the long awaited break is finally here! Give this recipe a try over this break and you (or the dish) can easily become a hit!

Ingredients:
1 large strip of pork belly/ pork roast loin meat (about 1.5 to 2kg depending on the number of mouths you have to feed)
1/4 cup rosemary leaves (could use dried ones as well)
2 tbsp sea salt
1 tbsp brow sugar
1 tbsp vegetable oil
1 tbsp lemon juice

Method:
1. Preheat oven to 220 degrees Celsius. Score the pork skin using a sharp knife.
2. Toast the Rosemary and sea salt in a small frying pan over high heat until fragrant. Add in brown sugar at the end, toss well. Blend the mixture using a food processor. (skip this if you prefer a coarse biting texture)
3. Mix lemon juice and oil together, coat over pork skin. Rub the rosemary mixture onto the pork skin.
4. Roast in preheated oven for 30 minutes. Reduce the heat to 180 degrees Celsius and roast for another 30-60 minutes (depending on the meat's weight, extra 20 minutes per 500g). Done, serve hot with apple sauce.

Apple Sauce
1 Granny Smith green apple, 1 tbsp butter, 1 tbsp Cinnamon powder, 3 tbsp honey, 1/2 cup water, salt and pepper to taste.

Boil water in a sauce pot, braise peeled apple with lid covered until soft. Mash and stir through with cinnamon powder, butter, honey, salt and pepper. Done. (try substituting honey with maple syrup, this would bring out another dimension of the sauce)

Poached Green Bean Salad

2008-09-23T19:22:00.006+10:00

The green beans I used here refers to those medium length ones with smooth skin, and not its sibling which is fairly long with a rougher skin texture. Anyway, it seems like the season for it has arrived, or has it not? I picked up a large bag of it from Sunday market the other day for a mere 2 dollars, and I think it is an unbeatable price, unless they sell it for only 1 dollar...

It's a fairly simple dish, my housemate (who does not cook as well) and his girlfriend wanted to join the crowd for a good meal, hence I came up with the dish so that there would be enough things to feed everyone, and ofcourse, I cunningly asked my housemate to buy a couple of stuff for joining the dinner last minute. Wicked! *Laughs*

This time again I am not going to disclose the exact amount of ingredients used, there's no strict rule to it really, salads are meant to be hassle-free and done as according to own tastes.

Ingredients:
about 500g green beans (sliced diagonally)
2 carrots (finely chopped)
1 large onion (finely sliced)
black and white sesame (lightly toasted)
dried red chilli (soaked in hot water and coarsely chopped)
lime juice
3 garlic gloves (finely chopped)
1 tbsp vegetable oil
dijon mustard
brown sugar, salt and pepper to taste

Method:
1. Poach the sliced green beans in boiling hot water for about 3-5 minutes. Soak in ice-cold water immediately.
2. Mix green beans, sliced carrot and black and white sesame in a salad bowl.
3. Heat oil in a saucepan, sautee chilli and garlic until fragrant, stir in onions and add sugar to brown them. Turn off heat, stir in a generous amount of lime juice.
4. Pour sauce over mixed ingredients, add salt and pepper to taste, toss well and throw a generous amount of dijon mustard on top before serving. Done

Last note, feel free to add olive oil to taste for a last touch, that should give another olive-y dimension to the dish. Enjoy!

Dill Roasted Double Meat Strips with Buttered Brocolli Mash

2008-09-22T17:36:00.005+10:00

In order to create a sense of sequence running in according to the festivals and special occasions, I really wanted to wait till all my pictures on my mooncake baking last week to come to me before I started to post again on my blog. However, it seems to be taking forever for my to get my hands on all of them. Hence I resorted to start straight away and leave that mooncake post to some other time, yet again, like last time.

Anyway, to start off again, I attempted to make a dish with two leftover meat in the fridge with a newly bought herb - dill seeds. This is the first time I have tried using dill and I really did not imagine how it would have tasted like, or look like, for that matter. The end result? Everyone was satisfied, they commented that the taste of dill was really mild, but its presence (smell) was undeniable, there was this mild flavour oozing out of the meat strips in every bite of it, so mild that as if it didn't exist, but when you get your mind over it, you suddenly realize, hey, that's not right, there is this special taste which is definitely not the taste of meat! That is how it is like, I tried my best to describe it, anyway, give it a try!

Ingredients:

about 300g of stir-fry pork and chicken breast fillet each, 2tbsp dark soy sauce, 2 tbsp oyster sauce, 1tbsp light soy sauce, 2 tbsp brown sugar, 1/2 cup Chinese shao xing cooking wine (or any sweet red wine, consider cherry), 5 garlic cloves, 1 tbsp vegetable oil, sea salt and pepper to taste, about 8 Shitake mushrooms (use more if desired), 3 tbsp dill seeds (lightly roasted), 1 broccoli, 2 tbsp butter.

Method:
1. Marinate the meat fillets and sliced mushroom with 2 tbsp of dill seeds, light and dark soy sauce, oyster sauce, wine, oil, sugar and salt and pepper for at least 15 minutes.
2. Roast 1/2 tbsp dill seeds in saucepan, melt butter together in the pan. On the other hand, steam the broccoli in a steamer until soft, mash the broccoli (or use a food blender for a finer texture) and add in the melted butter, mix well.
3. Roast the marinated ingredients for 40 minutes in a preheated oven at 220 degrees Celsius. Remove in between to turn the ingredients once. Done, remove from oven to cool before serving.
4. Lay meat on top of mashed broccoli, sprinkle with remaining roasted dill seeds.

Cucumber Salad with Sweet and Sour Thai Chili Dressing

2008-09-10T22:37:00.006+10:00

I've just installed Picasa 3 and found that it's collage feature has improved a lot since the last version (Picasa 2), it's simply amazing! With this I can post images which in unconventional ways, particularly refering to blogger.com's limited image features. =p

Anyway, done with the images and on with the dish, I tried another wild mix last night and the results were quite good, I thought that the flavour could be stronger, either by adding more sweetness or more of the sesame oil flavour, I'll definitely give it another try to enhance the flavours, but for now, I think it is quite presentable, at least my housemates like it. =)

Ingredients
1kg of fresh cucumber (thinly sliced using a skin peeler knife, soaked in cold water)
25g of seaweeds (soaked and rinsed thoroughly)
1 carrot (finely chopped)
2 stems celery (finely chopped, salted and leave aside)
3 cloves garlic (finely chopped)
3 tbsp sesame seeds (lightly toasted)
2 tbsp vegetable oil
2 tbsp sesame oil
2 tbsp sesame oil
1 tbsp sugar
Salt and Pepper to taste
1 tbsp lemon juice
generous amount of Thai chili sauce

1) Alright, it is nothing close to hard at all, when you are done preparing the cucumber, carrot and celery and toasted the sesame seeds, it is just a matter of mixing up the stuff.

2) On a heated dry wok, lightly toast the seaweed, add sugar and pepper to eliminate the fishy-smell. Add oil, stir in garlic and stir fry for a couple of minutes until fragrant. Stir in carrots and stir fry for another 3 minutes.

3) Turn to low heat, add celery and mix well, add salt and pepper to taste, followed by sesame oil and lemon juice. Done.

4) Set cucumber strips on plate, top with mixed ingredients, splash Thai sweet chili sauce generously on top, sprinkle with toasted sesame seeds, mix well before serving warm or cold.

Sweet Potato and Basil Curry

2008-09-08T17:14:00.005+10:00

The lazy gets lazier! Here is another lazy cook's dish with the standards and taste at a guaranteed excellence! lol Thanks again to the stockpile of sweet potato earlier from the week, this is yet another example of innovation with whatever that is available. Hahaha Alright, done with the self-praising, let's get into making the dish.

Ingredients to start off with: heaps of sweet potatoes (cut into medium-large chunks), tandoori curry paste (or any curry paste that you like, and can be purchased from the Asian stores, feel free to pull together your own mix of herbs to make the curry, it is something I often do myself), 1 large Spanish red onion (finely chopped), 1 can tomato puree, about 400g (again you can dice your own tomatoes, but I am trying to make things easier for lazy cooks), 3 cloves garlic (finely chopped), 1/2 cup milk (can use coconut milk or yogurt, anything goes). 2 tbsp vegetable oil, 3 stems of basil leafs (take the leafs only, coarsely chopped), salt and pepper to taste.

Method: Start of by heating oil in a wok or pot, add in the chopped garlic and onions and stir fry until fragrant, add some sugar and salt to brown the onions. Add the curry paste and tomato puree, mix well and bring to boil. Stir in the milk, bring to boil again before adding the sweet potato chunks. Add water to cover the sweet potatoes, turn to medium-high heat and braise with closed lid for 10-20 minutes or until the sweet potatoes are soft enough (to own preference). Remove lid, season to preferred taste, turn off heat, stir in basil leafs, leave to sit for a couple of minutes prior to serving. There's saying that curries taste better after sitting overnights, the same applies here if you plan to keep the dish for another day.

Serve with rice, noodle or pasta, just beware of the carbohydrate intake! lol

Roasted Sweet Potato Salad

2008-09-08T16:55:00.005+10:00

We had a stockpile of sweet potato earlier this week and I thought it was too common to just roast the sweet potato and eat it as it is (though it is delicious). Hence I figured this salad to put the dish into our dinner's menu.

Ingredients
Heaps of sweet potato (cleaned and coarsely chopped into medium-large chunks)
2 stems of fresh celery (finely chopped)
5 tbsp of golden syrup
4 tbsp mayonnaise
dash of hot paprika or chili powder
shredded mozzarella cheese (as much as you like!)
salt and pepper to taste
lemon juice

Method
1. Roast the sweet potato in a preheated oven for at least 45 minutes at 240 degrees Celsius. Meanwhile, prepare the celery and rinse in cold water until use. After the first round of roasting, remove sweet potato from oven, leave to rest for a while, add the golden syrup and mix well using spoons. Roast for another 10-15 minutes or until the sweet potatoes are really soft. The golden syrup should give the sweet potatoes a light coat of crust.

2. Upon removal from oven, mix all the ingredients together and the dish is ready to serve. This is important as the cheese needs the heat from the sweet potato to be melted.

Pumpkin and Cumin Seeds Stew

2008-09-08T16:23:00.007+10:00

This is a dish that I should have published by the end of last month, but as usual, laziness is king...lol At times, laziness takes over in cooking as well, so basically you can label this dish a 'lazy' dish as well. Simple steps with simple ingredients, at least from my point of view XD.

Ingredients
1/4 of Pumpkin, coarsely chopped into chunks
250g minced pork (other mince is fine as well)
about 5 stems of garlic sprouts (cut to desired lengths)
4 cloves garlic(finely chopped)
3 tbsp vegetable oil
about 4 tbsp of cumin seeds

Seasoning
light soy sauce
Thai sweet chili sauce
chili or paprika powder
salt and pepper to taste
oyster sauce
Brown sugar

Method
1. Heat oil in a wok or pot, stir fry the chopped garlic until fragrant, stir in 2tbsp of cumin seeds and 2 tbsp chili powder, sautee until the cumin seed's flavour is released, add minced pork at this point, followed by light soy sauce, salt and pepper to taste, continue to stir fry until the minced pork turns brown.

2. Stir in the pumpkin chunks, mix well, add water to cover the pumpkin, close with lid and bring to boil. Remove lid upon boiling, mix well and check if the pumpkin chunks have to started to soften, add 2 tbsp of oyster sauce, 1tbsp of sugar and another round of light soy sauce, salt and pepper to taste. Close lid, turn to medium heat and braise for about 10-15 minutes.

3. Remove lid, pumpkin should be soft by now, otherwise continue to braise. Turn to high heat, add chopped garlic sprouts and stir fry for another 3-5 minutes. Done.

4. Turn off heat, stir in 2-3tbsp That sweet chili sauce, toast the remaining cumin seeds prior to sprinkling on top of dish. Serve hot or warm.

Crunchy Lettuce Seaweed Salad

2008-09-01T22:37:00.007+10:00

A few days back I was trying to make something new out of one the most common vegetables available, the easiest way is obviously to stir-fry the Chinese way, but I think you'll just get sick of it when you have too much of it, or too much of anything for that matter. Anyway, this was what I came out with, an experiment with some corriander powder I found from the storage cabinet and sort of fusion of East and West, as always. lol

Ingredients:
1 whole iceberg lettuce (rinsed and cleaned thoroughly, roughly chop and leave aside to dry)
25g of finely sliced seaweed (rinse and clean thoroughly leave aside to dry)
3 tbsp white sesame (lightly toasted and set aside)
4 cloves garlic (finely chopped)
3 tbsp cooking oil
3 tbsp corriander powder
1 tbsp brown sugar
1 tbsp light soy sauce
2 tbsp oyster sauce
1 tbsp dark vinegar
salt and pepper to taste

Method:
1. Heat oil in a wok, add in chopped garlic and stir fry till fragrant, stir in the sliced seaweed at this point, stir-fry for another 3 minutes.
2. Add all the seasoning, give the ingredients a good mix, add some water to dilute the gravy (around 1/2 to 1 cup of water), bring to boil and turn to lowest heat.
3. Stir in the chopped lettuce and mix the ingredients, adding water bit by bit if it turns out too dry. Turn off heat, stir in the toasted sesame as well, done, serve warm or cold.

Whacky Pumpkin Curry Pasta

2008-08-24T21:19:00.006+10:00

Yesterday's nice-sunny Sunday was spent with Connie as she wanted to learn something to make for her other friends on the coming week. That said, the whole cooking experience began from buying the ingredients itself. We had to walk our way up to Randwick to get the ingredients, though I think that with the final product, the ingredients could have all been bought around Kingsford area. Anyway, not that I'm complaining as Connie's a good company. By the time we got back to her place, it was already 2pm, far behind schedule as we spent too much time hovering around, hence we had to pull a quickie before it gets too late and the meal end up as a dinner instead. So quickly, we manage to pull the dish off in 45, faster than I thought as I was expecting no less than an hour, but the outcome was pretty good as well...

This time around I decided to throw a bit of West into a wholesome of East, i.e. the pasta base with the Thai curry, which was really aromatic, I should have remembered the brand though, so that everyone else can get their hands on it. Anyway here are the ingredients:

300-500g pasta (any type will do, boil in water until desired softness)
1 large red Spanish onion (finely chopped)
3 cloves garlic (finely chopped)
50g shitake mushroom (chopped, rinsed, seasoned with sugar, salt and dry Basil)
about 300-500g pumpkin (any type will do, you can use butternut as well, coarsely chopped)
2tbsp Thai red hot curry paste (or more for those spice fans, you can use panang curry or yellow curry as well)
about 300g small washed potatoes
200g of tuna flakes
100g of diced tomatoes (just use the canned ones for those who are lazy, they come with the tomato sauce as well)
5tbsp vegetable oil
about 1 cup of milk (you can use coconut milk as well)
grated Parmasen cheese for finishing
salt and pepper to taste
half a bunch of Australian corriander (or use any herb that you like, basil and curry leafs are good options as well)

The methodology is simple, it's like making a curry dish, but add in more of the tomato to make it more subtle. Start of by poaching the chopped pumpkin and potatoes in salted water until the pumpkin are soft and tender, the potatoes will be further cooked in the curry later, so don't worry about them.
Meanwhile, dry-fry (or called toast) the chopped onions and shitake mushroom on a medium-high heat, add in sugar and salt when the ingredients start to dry, followed by vegetable oil and turning to high heat, saute for about 5 minutes or until the onions start to brown. Add in the garlic, saute until fragrant and add in curry paste, followed by diced tomato and half a cup of milk, mix well and simmer until it boils.

Add in the half-poached potatoes and the remaining milk upon boiling, leave to simmer. Meanwhile, mash the poached pumpkin evenly add some salt and pepper to taste. Done with that, add in the tuna flakes into the sauce and mix well, add seasoning to taste and bring to boil again on medium-low heat, add in the mashed pumpkin at last (so that much of the sweetness is retained), turn to low-heat and mix well. Done, serve with pasta, coarsely chopped herbs and finish off with grated Parmesan cheese.

Last note, feel free to add more water to make the sauce more diluted than the dry-pasty version that I like, and you could also substitute the tuna flakes with any other meat, preferably of stronger aroma, like minced beef or pork, or even herb-seasoned sausages, but make sure to pre-roast them to intensify the flavours.

StirFry T- Chicken

2008-08-24T00:38:00.006+10:00

Again, this is another back-tracked dish from last week in which I helped to figure out how to cook some 8 drumsticks, it was not very easy as I was quite sick at that moment, and others are falling sick too, thanks to the awkwardly cold weather this year! Anyway, looking at what was available in the kitchen at that point, and what myself and others can actually take (we didn't want something to heaty, as everyone was not in their best conditions), I decided to give the usually tea-curium chicken a big twist. Maybe I should make the tea-curium chicken some time in the future... Haha
Anyway, this dish is not a hard dish at all, and for those who are looking at the pictures and wondering do we (or can we) actually eat the tea leafs, the answer is yes, they are by nature, leafs, and we eat vegetable leafs don't we? Not compulsory though, if you feel that you cannot get over the idea of eating tea leafs, fine, get rid of them. lol The ingredients are as following:

about 25g tea leafs (you can use any type of tea leafs you want, preferably the ones that have a sweet flavour if you are going to eat them), I used Tieh Guan Yin (literal translation would be steel Bodhisattva? lol)
1 brown onion (finely chopped)
1 tbsp soy paste (you can use SaCha or sandy tea paste? haha)
3 tbsp oil
5 cloves garlic (finely chopped)
Salt and Pepper to taste

Marinade
light soy sauce
dark soy sauce
sesame oil
black pepper
sugar
oyster sauce
some corn starch
*Note that I did not include the proportion of each, I just got fed up with measuring everything I guess, it's really just as much as you want to use, but try things at your own risk! lol

Just for start, lightly dry-fry the chopped brown onions, add sugar and salt and continue to fry until they are dry enough before adding pre-soaked tea leafs, continue the process until the tea leafs are fairly dry as well, add in oil at this point, followed by chopped garlic, stir fry until the tea fragrance is released.

Add in the marinated drumsticks at this point, followed by soy paste, mix the ingredients well, add water to cover all the ingredients, cover with wok lid and bring to boil before turning to medium heat to braise with covered lid for about 10-15 minutes. Remember to open the lid once a while to allow the ingredients some breath and stir about the un-cooked bits.

At the end of the braising, the chicken meat should fall loose from the bones easily, otherwise, consider to continue braising so that the drumsticks are cooked thoroughly, add water occasionally if the gravy starts to dry up, add seasoning to taste prior to serving. Done. Serve hot or warm.

Chicky Belacan Chicky

2008-08-23T23:25:00.011+10:00

I thought it was really about time that I post this dish up before I forget how to cook it, so here you are, a dish that I made...about a week ago or maybe even more! Haha It is not very often that my housemates agree to spend a bit of fortune on extra sauces and ingredients for cooking, and it was during this rare opportunity that I managed to chuck a packet of Belacan (Made in Malaysia!) into the shopping basket, all thanks to Randwick Oriental's special discounts! Those who are wondering what discount is that can message me and I'd be glad to tell you how to get those discounts...

Anyway, with the cheaky (chicky) title and the short story introduction, I believe everyone should know that there is no big secret to this dish, basically Belacan (or dried shrimp paste) is the main ingredient, and our beloved Penang back in Malaysia is one the places that comes out with loads of this kind of product. There are two types of shrimp paste in the market (at least the ones from Malaysia that I know), one is in a dry form while the other is literally in paste (liquid) form, both of which are dark brown or black in colour and have a very intense (some say smelly) aroma when sniffed, and even stronger when being cooked!

Ingredients:
500g chicken breast (sliced to fillet size, can have more if desired)
5tbsp water diluted Belacan (about 1/8 of a packed dried Belacan, dilute with warm water bit by bit)
1 carrot (thinly sliced)
1 brown onion (finely chopped, feel free to use red ones also)
4 tbsp vegetable oil
4 cloves garlic (finely chopped)
3 slices ginger (about 1cm, finely chopped)
3pc dried chilie (soaked in water and finely chopped)
corn starch, salt and pepper, light soy sauce, dark soy sauce, sugar.

Method:
1. Marinate the chicken breast fillets with a dash of salt, pepper, light and dark soy sauce, corn starch, dark soy sauce, Chinese shaoxing cooking wine, and lastly sesame oil (do not add too much cooking wine and sesame oil otherwise the taste will contradict the belacan flavours). Leave to rest for about 15 minutes.
2. Brown the chopped onions using a dry-clean frying pan (add in a dash of salt and sugar, fry lightly before adding oil to further saute). Bring the oil to its peak heat, add in dried chili, chopped ginger and garlic, lightly fry for a minute or two until fragrant, add in sliced chicken breast fillets.
3. Stir fry for about 3-5 minutes, while the fillets still present slight pink-ish, add in diluted belacan at this point, continue to stir fry for until all fillets are thoroughly cooked (adding water ocassionally when almost drying up). Bring stir fry ingredients to a boil, add additional sugar, salt and pepper to taste if necessary. Done. Serve hot with heaps of rice.

Spicy Buttered Chicky-Corn Soup

2008-08-09T10:43:00.007+10:00

It was my turn to cook again a few days back and one of the tasks was to have a soup, I was trying to 'think out of the box' as I didn't want to cook just 'yet another typical soup', hence I eneded up with this soup, hopefully everyone enjoys this experimentation of mine....

To start off with, cut out 3 corn cob worth of corn kernels (keep the cores), prepare 1 red spanish onion (finely chopped), 3 cloves of garlic, 3pc dried chilie (coarsely chopped), 1tbsp hot paprika powder, about 8 drumsticks (you can adjust this accordingly), 2tbsp of butter, 1tbsp golden syrup, 5tbsp light soy sauce, salt and pepper to taste.

To marinade the drumsticks, lightly draw a few knife cuts on the meat, season with additional light soy sauce, black pepper powder, a dash of Chinese shao xing cooking wine, and some sugar, leave to sit for about 15 minutes.

Meanwhile, heat a soup pot, lightly sautee the onion with 1tbsp of melted butter. Add in garlic when the onion starts to turn brownish, continue to sautee for a minute or so, stir in the corn kernels and sitr fry over medium-high heat. Add in golden syrup at this point, followed by the hot paprika powder, salt, pepper and continue to stir-fry until the corn kernels start to brown. Cover with water and bring to boil with lid covered, add more water to allow it to simmer off later on. Add in the drumsticks and corn cores as soon as the water boils, stir throughly, add in 5tbsp of light soy sauce, bring to boil again and cover with pot lid to allow to simmer over low-medium heat for about 30-45 minutes or even more if desired. Remove lid, add in the remaning butter, add seasoning to taste if desired, done, serve hot.

Experimenting with Eggplants

2008-07-09T14:50:00.006+10:00

Having seen some friends' dinner pictures at a Spanish restaurant, I was intrigued by one of the restaurant's which made use of eggplant. As the only referral I had was a picture, the cooking method and ingredients involved was largely up to my own imagination. Hence, with some spare time this afternoon, I decided to let my imaginations take off and try out something with a big eggplant left in the fridge.

The ingredients used are pretty simple, with the eggplant being the main character here. For a start, peel the skin of eggplant, cut into rectangular chunks, mix together with 2 tbsp salt, 1 tbsp black pepper powder, 1 tbsp sweet paprika and 2 tbsp five spice powder before leaving aside to marinate. Prepare another two bowls, one with beaten egg wash of 1 egg, and another with the mixture of 5tbsp bread crumbs, 1 tbsp dried chives, 1 tbsp salt, 1 tbsp plain flour, and 2 tbsp of curry and tumeric powder each.

Method:Dip one piece of eggplant in the egg wash before coating with the breadcrumb mixture, repeat with all eggplant cutlets. Lightly saute the breadcrumb -coated eggplants in a hot pan with some oil, do not overcook the eggplants, and beware not to overburn the breadcrumb coating. Leave aside on a kitchen towel after browning the eggplants for a few minutes. Next, bake the eggplants in a preheated oven at 200 degrees Celcius for 40 minutes, changing sides every 10 minutes or so. Serve hot from the oven immediately for best taste. I think it is possible to grill the breadcrumb-coated eggplants as well, but I will have to try that next time before I can be sure, maybe someone else can try it out and tell me?

A different take on Bruschetta

2008-07-02T10:05:00.007+10:00

A few days back Cat brought over some tomatoes that has been sitting in her fridge for some time, I suggested making tomato quiche or bruschetta. She opted for bruschetta as she couldn't get the picture of what is a tomato quiche, or maybe I should correct my terminology, as I told her to make tomato pie, big difference? Hmm...

Anyway, I brought the ingredients into storage the day after I got the tomatoes, and only started to make the bruschetta yesterday. A bad thing I did was to had 4 pieces of bread before I made the Italian snack, which resulted in my almost vomiting just by looking at bread. laughs*Anyway, the Italian snack turned out to be quite good, Cat and the other housemates seem to liked it, though the spicy and tangy garlic was overpowering our taste buds at times, but it was nevertheless very appetite arousing. laughs*

The methodology of this recipe is not hard, bruschettas are not meant to be hard to make. I gave the garlic part a twist, which I think was the part which demanded more work, otherwise, its pretty straight forward provided you are not making for 10 people or so, that would be effort taxing no matter how easy things are. The ingredients used are: 2 loafs of long french bread (the ones they sell in bakery shops, cut diagonally into 2.5cm thick slices), butter, 1 whole garlic (or more! Skinned and crushed), a pinch of basil and thyme, salt and pepper to taste and 2 tbsp of lemon squeeze, not forgetting about 8-10 tomatoes (coarsely chopped), try to use fresh ones, they are less watery, 3 bunches of fresh basil leafs, discard the stems (finely chopped, or to own preference) and lastly olive oil (preferably).

As mentioned, the method is pretty straight forward, it's hard to go wrong with this snack, using an electric blender, mix together garlic, lemon squeeze, 1 tbsp olive oil, basil and thyme and salt and pepper to taste. Meanwhile, bake the sliced breads on a tray for 5 minutes at 240 degrees Celcius, repeat with the bread turned sides. In a mixing bowl, mix together chopped tomatoes and basil leafs, add another 2 tbsp lemon juice and salt and pepper to taste. Finish with a good drizzle of olive oil and toss well.

On one side of the toasted bread, brush lightly with butter and then another coat of garlic mix, repeat with other pieces of bread. Toast again lightly in over for 2 minutes, remove from heat, top with tomato mix, done, drizzle with more olive oil if desired, enjoy!

Carrot & Raddish Snack

2008-06-04T10:42:00.003+10:00

This salad snack is so easy I did not want to post it at first, but on second thought, I decided I should. Why? It is a memorable day whereby James cooked! He made spaghetti for us, that's quite memorable huh? Well, I should have posted on the spaghetti shouldn't I? I still prefer to post my own things here to be frank... lol

Anyway, jot down this easy snack, make it whenever you feel like it, it makes a good appetizer, which I think is one of the reasons we had so much of James's spaghetti.

The ingredients used here are simple, I do not want to limit your imagination with the quantity of the ingredients, do experiment with it, try adding more of your favourite ingredients, it makes a difference! Ingredients: Carrot, White Raddish, both finely chopped, poach the white raddish for about 5 minutes before serving if you are not used to eating raw white raddish. Sauce: Sesame Oil, Light Soy Sauce, Balsamic Vinegar, Hot Paprika Powder, Korean Rice Seasoning, Salt and Pepper to taste.

The process is just simple, prepare the carrot and raddish as above. Heat a saucepan until it is really hot, turn of the heat. Add sesame oil straight away, followed by light soy sauce and a generous amount of balsamic vinegar, mix well and pour on to the carrot and raddish. Sprinkle with hot paprika powder, rice seasoning and salt and pepper to taste. Done! Toss and mix well before serving hot.

*Note: substitute rice seasoning with toasted white sesame if desired.

First Comeback! A Token of Appreciation

2008-05-29T08:45:00.010+10:00

Hi everyone! I have halted on posting for almost one semester now, and as the semester gears towards an end, I thought I had no excuse anymore to stop myself from posting again. Hopefully I will be able to manage my time better in the coming days, then I would be able to squeeze more time to post about food and architecture!

Anyway, just to start of, I started to bake yesterday night as I wanted to present some gifts to two students who helped out managing the students' work in my tutorial class. I really couldn't think of anything else that I can offer them at the first place, I had no extra books to lend, nor do I feel like shouting them dinner, hence I thought of doing something that I was at better hands with...

So, what did I bake? Muffins! One of the easiest things to bake I reckon, just behind scones. Haha, anyway, check this recipe out, I took it off some website and added things here and there when I saw the ingredients lying there in the storage doing nothing.

Banana Chocolate Chip Muffin

1 medium Egg

1 1/2 cup Flour

3/4 cup Milk

3/4 cup Chocolate Chips

1/2 cup Brown Sugar

3/4 cup pureed Banana

1/4 cup Vegetable Oil

2 tbsp Butter

1 tbsp Golden Syrup

1/2 tsp Salt

1/2 tsp Cinnamon Powder

( I went berserk and added a few more!)

1/2 tsp Nutmeg Powder

Method

Well, as I have mentioned, it is not a hard thing to make muffins, to start off, mix all the dry ingredients together in a mixing bowl. Then mix the pureed banana, milk and golden syrup in another bowl. Add the egg, followed by vegetable oil into the dry mixture, make sure to continuously stir and mix them, stir in the moist ingredients after that, continue to stir until it becomes a thick paste.

Grease a muffin tray, use paper muffin cups if you like, spoon the thick slurry into the cups until at least half the volume , bake at preheated oven for about 20 minutes at 205 degrees Celsius. Leave to stand for a bout 5 minutes before serving.

Small bite size muffins like this are suitable as gifts to others, note how unprofessional I have wrapped them. lol The third pack behind is for Stan, a token of appreciation to him for introducing the job as well. =)

Sweet Cucumber and Aubergine Salad

2008-01-17T00:20:00.000+11:00

This is another simple salad that I figured out within minutes when my mom asked me how to cook this two leftover ingredients in the refrigerator. I think it is not too bad considering I had to come out with it within minutes, Hah!

Ingredients: 1kg baby cucumbers, 600g small aubergines, 3 tbsp malt, 2 tbsp sesame oil, 1 tbsp toasted black sesame, 1 tbsp toated chili flakes, salt and pepper to taste.

Method: First of all, coarsely chop the baby cucumbers and aubergines. Coat the aubergines with sesame oil and roast in an oven for 15 minutes at 180 degrees Celsius. Melt the malt in a steamer. Remove the aubergine from oven and well with the chopped babay cucumbers. Toss well with malt, black sesame and chili flakes. Seson with pepper and salt to taste, try some lime juice as well if desired. Serve hot or warm when the sesame oil-roasted-aubergine are still fragrant after being roasted in the oven.

New Year, New Begining!

2008-01-16T23:53:00.000+11:00

Garden greens with Egg Yolk Sauce Salad

First of all, I would like to thank all the people who have supported my blog for the past year, I sincerely hope that everyone will continue to enjoy reading my blog and benefit from it as much as I do. Nevertheless, I am going to start posting straight from this post itself, no wasting posts!

This is a salad that I made for one of my cousin's birthday celebration party, the proportion of the dish is meant for a large number of people (around 10 people), hence for those who want to try out this salad, feel free to adjust the amount and proportion of ingredients accordingly to your own needs...

On second thought, maybe I'll just disclose the ingredients used, for those who want to try it out, feel free to use as much ingredients you want! fresh oven-baked/ deep fried wedges, baby cucumbers, tomatoes, fresh basil leafs, vinaigrette, olive oil, salt and pepper to taste, half boil eggs, lime juice.

Method: First of all, coarsely chop the baby cucumbers, tomatoes and basil leafs. Season with pepper and salt to taste. Poach as much as eggs as possible, the more eggs the more fragrant the salad is. The catch is that the eggs must be half boiled so that the yolk is still liquid form, which in turn becomes part of the main flavour of the salad's sauce. Remember to use the half-boiled eggs straight from hot water before they harden and turn cooked. Bring together all the main ingredients mentioned above. Give a good splash of venaigrette, olive oil and lime juice, finally top with the half boiled eggs, mix well and serve immediately, as the eggs will harden soon when in contact with the just-cooked wedges.

That Tong Zhi that I missed....

2007-12-31T19:30:00.000+11:00

Ok, what I meant is missed out in posting...Haha, I should have done it that day itself when the Tong Yuen were made, but obviously as usual...laziness is simply overwhelming! >.<

So what is this "Tong Yuen" thing? If you really want to find out about all the strories behind the celebration, check out Su Yin's blog, I reckon she has a really comprehensive explanation there...

If that is the case, what am I up to? Haha The process ofcourse! Now to make really nice Tong Yuen, the soup is more important that the glutinous rice balls themselves. Why? If your soup is no good, even the best filled glutinous rice balls would not taste nice. Now, the catch here is to make the soup as spicy and fragrant as possible. Hence, prepare heaps of ginger, preferably old ones, but just use young ones if you cannot find any, A LOT of them! Just lightly crush the ginger with a stone mortar prior tp use...

Now, prepare heaps of 'Gula Melaka' as well (better known as pal sugar?), they do not necessarily go to the soup, in fact it would be better if you do not use them in the soup as well, any fine white sugar would be fine. Throw all the ginger, some tied pandan leafs and sugar into a big pot of water...bring it to boil. You should be able to smell the aroma and spiciness of the ginger soup all over your kitchen (or even house) when it is ready...

Finely chopped or crush the palm sugar to desired sizes. Then you can start to roll up the glutinous rice pastry. To make things easier, you can easily get these pastry in the markets (well in Malaysia that is) when the season comes. If that is not you case, simply make your own. Start with normal glutinous rice flour, add 1/2 cup of hot water to start the rolling process, add cold or lukewarm water there after to form your desired dough (the best doughs are nice and firm and do not crack when you roll them or press them), add colourings as well to make things fun and exciting! ...

When rolling the rice balls, put some crushed palm sugar in the middle of the dough before starting to roll them, that is the most basic type of filling you could add to the glutinous rice balls. If you want feeling adventurous, add crushed peanuts, or black sesame, red bean paste etc. Anything you like, but the golden rule is, "Do Not be Greedy"! Otherwise, you will end up with overfilled and crushed rice balls, they do not cook easily as well in that sense...

Now the next big thing about making and preparing food is to PUT SOME CREATIVITY into your food, look at all the things that you could try to make just with this very fundamental glutinous rice dough, well these are largely thanks to my cousins and brothers who all helped out to make the rice balls that day, it is a family thing! Haha

These capsicums and carrots are courtesy of my brother, Haha. He insists that that is a pumpkin and not campsicum, what do you think? =)

After you are done with rolling and shaping the 'rice balls', throw them into the boiling ginger soup and when they start to float in the soup, they are cooked, serve hot or warm when the spiciness of the soup is still strong. The whole idea is to give the person who eats and drinks the Tong Yuen some warmth in the dawn of the winter season...

Bye Bye 2007! Welcome 2008!

2007-12-31T18:35:00.001+11:00

Well it is the last day of 2007 today and I know, I should be out there with some friends celebrating or in some way anticipating 2008! However, I choose to the opposite, nothing beats hiding at home as the day gets super hot and it just feels like a hot oven where ever you go out there! Well another reason is that there is a family dinner tonight and I will be making a salad for that later on in the evening, hence I think I will just fill out my time by catching up with a couple of recipes that I should have posted a few days or weeks back... lol

This time around I would like to publish my moon cake recipe that I used back in Sydney and also another occasion when I made them again for Dong Zhi's (Winter Solstice) party. Yes, you heard right, God knows why I made them that day, but I just did! Haha... You can pretty much check out what is this Winter Solstice all about through a couple of my food mania's blogs that are linked to me, I reckon I could not do any better in explaining what is it all about, so never mind, I will just do my own thing. Anyway check it out...

Ok, this time around I tried to use a wooden mould to shape the mooncakes, but I think something just went wrong, they just seem to go round and loose their shape and form in the resting and cooling process. Hence I decided to use my hands instead at last, nothing beats your own pair of hands!

Adding that final touch to the pig's face, its eyes. Haha. I wonder why I just like to make pigs... lol

Here's the recipe for the pastry:
500g Flour
400g Golden Syrup
1 tsp Bicarbonate
1 1/2 tsp Lye water
100 ml Peanut oil
1 tbsp Wine
Pinch of Salt

Sieve all the flour and mix all the ingredients together. Leave to rest for about 4-5 hours prior to using them. I used prepacked red bean paste, feel free to make your own filling if you want to. I am just slack! Haha... Use about 50g pastry and about 35g red bean paste for a pig's head. For a normal size mooncake, use about 80-100g of pastry with a filling of about 75. Bake in preheated oven for about 5 minutes, lower fire at 150 degrees Celcius. Remove from oven, glaze with beaten egg yolk. Bake again for 8 minutes, upper fire at 150 degree Celcius. Remove from oven, glaze again and bake again at 200 degree Celcius for 15-20 minutes or until the pastry turns golden brown. Leave to cool for at least an hour before serving...

The cutest pig I have ever made, too bad this is before it goes into the oven...Is there any cutest pastry pig competition around? Haha
My signature fishes again this time... just could not help not making them...

I tried making a penguin this time, with a big fat belly that is...this time it was slightly overburnt, thanks to old oven toaster that I used to bake at my aunt's place, hard to control!

Some of the other piglets from piggyhood got burnt as well, luckily it was a minor burn...

I used red bean paste as well for the eyes this time, next time I would try something else like black bean or something, I think the final result would be better...nevertheless, this was a really good and fun experience! Cheers!

and I sang "The GingerBread Man"...

2007-12-24T01:28:00.000+11:00

Jingle Bells...

Jingle all the way...

Sounds familiar? Everyone is aware that Christmas is just around the corner! The food programmes on the television channels have been vigorously promoting the season celebration by preparing all those really beautiful, attractive, good lucking...food! Initially I was thinking "ok, there are and will be all good, I am just going to watch and learn." However, I just could not help myself anymore when I saw Nigella making her Gingerbread Man using this simple recipe. Hence I decided to make a version of mine, hopefully everyone likes it, this can be prepared a few days before Christmas itself (like I did), hence it would just be nice for those so-called busy people. Try it out and enjoy!

First of all, beat 3 cups of flour, 1/4 tsp of salt, 1 tsp baking soda, 1 1/2 tbsp ginger powder, 1 tbsp cinnamon powder, 1/4 ground nutmeg, 1/4 ground cloves, 3/4 cup of brown sugar and 3/5 cup (150g) of unsalted butter (melted) in an electric mixer... In another bowl, beat 1 egg and and 2 tbsp of raw honey until nice and fluffy. Add to the mixture in the electric mixer bowl, use a wooden spatula if necessary, as the mixture might turn quite lumpy and tough....

Refrigerate the pastry mixture for at least an hour... After that, remove from the fridge, cut some of the pastry and roll out the pastry to about 1/8 inch thick. Use desired mould or cookie cutter to form the gingerbread cookies...

Starry Starry Christmas...everyones' wish? Hahaha I have to clarify, it is not a sign of dizziness! lol

Place on an oiled tray and bake in preheated oven for 8-10 minutes at 180 degrees, or until the cookies turn dark brown...

Check out the gingerbread man, I carved them out myself using a knife, thanks to the fact that I could not find any gingerbread man mould. lol

See how much I managed to make out of the recipe! It makes up to 3 dozen of cookies depending on the size of the moulds being used...

After leaving the cookies to cool, feel free to decorate them with desired icing, go wild on it, use different colours and even glossy pearls if you want, they will definitely look nice being hung on christmas trees! XD

Leave the cookies to cool again on trays after applying the icing, this allows the icing to cool down and harden... Check out my smiley gingerbread man. May everyone have a Merry Merry Christmas... =)

Mongolian Style Pork Slices

2007-12-24T01:03:00.000+11:00

I got this recipe from Kylie Kwong after watching one of her show-ups on Saturday Cooks (Astro's AFC channel). It is a quick dish meant for busy office-goers nowadays. Kylie used minced beef while I opted for pork slices instead. Feel free to add in shredded carrots and chopped capsicums. I wanted to add them too but I could not get them last minute (so much for last minute shoppers, hah!)

Ingredients: (serves 3-4)
450g Sliced Pork
1/2 Chinese Cabbage Leafs (about 15 petals, finely chopped)
1/2 tbsp Sesame Oil
1 tbsp Chinese Shao Xing Cooking Wine
2 tbsp Crushed Black Pepper Corn
2 tbsp Vegetable Oil
3 bunches Spring Onion (cleaned and finely chopped)
2 tbsp Sea Salt
1 tbsp Soy Bean Paste
2 cloves Garlic (finely chopped)
2 slices Ginger (finely chopped)

Marinate:
1 tbsp Sesame Oil
1 tbsp Chinese Shao Xing Cooking Wine
1/2 tbsp White Pepper Powder
1 tbsp Light Soy Sauce
1 tbsp Oyster Sauce

Method:
Slice the pork, marinade with ingredients above and leave aside for about 5-10 minutes. Mix 2 tbsp salt with the chopped Chinese cabbage leafs (this is not going to be cooked, eaten raw) Heat oil in a wok, stir in ginger and garlic and fry til aromatic. Stir-fry the sliced pork for about 2 minutes or until they start to turn white (from raw red colour). Quickly stir in soy bean paste and cooking wine, followed by the black pepper corn, continue to stir fry for another 3-5 minutes. Stir in the sesame oil just before turning off the heat. Done. mix well with the raw Chinese cabbage leafs before serving.

Note: For spicy food lovers, substitute oyster sauce with Hoisin sauce and add in a couple of finely chopped Thai small chilies when stir-frying.

Curry Fish My Style

2007-12-24T00:36:00.000+11:00

Having just started on my industrial training, I am so used to arriving at home after work and just laze around.I must admit that despite the fact that I know I should spend just a little time to update somethings on my blog, I just could not help it. I think this is what people call 'office-goers' laziness'... Nevertheless, with Chinese's Dong Zhi just passed and Christmas just around the corner, I finally decided to clear up old my 'old debts' with my blog posts. That said, this curry fish was made a few days after I came back from Sydney, sorry it took such a long time to get posted here... lol

Ingredients: (serves 3-4)
1 Fresh Whole Fish (about 400-500g)
3 slices Ginger (finely chopped)
1 Large Red Onion (finely sliced)
1 stalk Lemon Grass (finely chopped)
3 pc Khaffir Lime Leafs (finely chopped)
2 tbsp Curry Powder (could use 3tbsp for a stronger curry taste)
1 tbsp Chili Powder
2 tbsp Vegetable Oil
1/2 a can of Evaporated Milk Creamer (could subsitute with plain yoghurt)
Pepper and Salt to taste

Method:
Clean and rinse the fish toroughly, half the fish, make a couple of deep scores on both sides of the fish and give them a good rub of salt, leave aside for about 15 minutes to marinate. Heat oil in a wok, stir in the slice red onion, lemon grass and ginger, continue to stir fry until aromatic. Add in the curry and chili powder while there is still oil in the wok, stir fry until fragrant. Pour in half the proportion of the evaporated creamer and braise for about 3 minutes. Put in the fish at this point, mix well and cover wok with lid, bring to boil over high heat. Remove the wok lid, check whether the fish's eyes has poked out. If no, add some water, cover with lid and simmer again for another 5 minutes or so. If yes, add in the remainder of the evaporated milk, followed by the khaffir lime leafs. Stir and mix well, make sure the gravy is nice and thick (the evaporated milk added at the end should help to achieve this, if not, stir in some corn flour solution). Turn off the heat when the gravy boils again, done. Serve hot or warm.

Thai Stir Fried Tofu with Basil and Soy Sauce

2007-12-15T19:03:00.000+11:00

Having return to Malaysia for more than a week, I had been eating here and there and almost in a non-stop pace. However so, I have been thinking of, or should I say I really missed the Thai cuisine back in Sydney. One of the most common and easy dish that one will find in Thai cuisine would be no other than stir-frys with basil. This would be even evident in thoe vegetarian Thai cuisines, those in Sydney that is. Hence, I did not hesitate to make this dish to satisfy my tastebuds and ofcourse, my stomach. I have to say that it has much to improve to compete with those from those Thai restaurants that I have tasted before in Sydney. Nevertheless, the aromatic smell of Basil is just astonishing, not sure about other people, but if you asked me, I would say anything (or most of the food) goes well with Basil, so sorry to those who dislike this herb, you are just missing out, BIG time!

Ingredients: (serves 3-4)
4pc Dry Tofu (thickly sliced, about 9 to 10pc per tofu)
2 Fresh Tomato (sliced into 8pc each)
4 bunches Fresh Basil Leafs
1 Large Red Onion (coarsely sliced)
2 tbsp Soy Bean Paste
1 tbsp Oyster Sauce
1 tbsp Dark Soy Sauce
2 tbsp Light Soy Sauce
Pinch of Salt, Sugar and Pepper to taste
2 slices Ginger (finely chopped)
3pc Thai Small Chili (seeds removed and finely chopped)
3 tbsp Vegetable Oil

Method: Rub a pinch of salt thoroughly over sliced tofu and lightly fry in hot vegetable oil (you can seperately parboil the tofu in hot oil seperately for a more crunchy texture later). Stir in ginger and onion and continue to stir fry gently, so as not to spoil the tofu accidently. Add in the basil leafs at this point, stir fry until the leafs have all absorbed some oil and start to turn dark green. Add all the seasonings and the chili. Stir fry for another 5 minutes over high heat. Stir in sliced tomato at last and stir fry for another 2 minutes. Done, serve hot.

Heaven's Dragon Balls

2007-12-14T20:03:00.000+11:00

During the last few days staying over Jon's place in Sydney, I managed to squeeze out some time out of my busy vacation trips schedule to make this dish. I had the idea for this dish since some time ago, and really wanted to get my hands on it to get it done, but obviously I did not manage to do so until the very last minute... I was inspired to make this dish after seeing some friends who often buy canned lychee to make desserts, and I've always wondered how the sweetness and the saltiness of the meat who blend together, well this is my first trial on it, it not bad I reckon, if I were to make it again, I would give it another twist, which I think it would taste even better! Well, let's go into the preparation of the ingredients...

Ingredients: (makes about 20, depends on how many lychees are there in the can)
1pc Fish Fillet (I used Bassa, about 250g-300g)
300g Minced Pork
1 no. Canned Lychee
1 Egg (white and yolk separated)
2pc Italian Oiled Anchovies
4 stems Chives (finely chopped)
2 tbsp Dried Chili Flakes
1 tbsp Light Soy Sauce
1 tbsp Black Pepper Powder
1 tbsp Sesame Oil
3 slices Ginger (finely chopped)
2 tbsp Corn Flour

Method:

This time I included a lot of pictures just in case methodological description is not enough, like people say, a picture tells a thousand words. First of all rinse and drain water from the minced pork and bassa fillet. Use a knife or spoon to crush both meat and mix well.

Do everything on a cutting board, makes things easier, I used knife throughout the whole process, add in the sesame oil, chopped ginger, corn flour, Italian oiled anchovies, one egg's white, light soy sauce and pepper and mix well with the two meat.

The Italian oiled anchovies should be salty enough, hence I did not add any salt into the mixture, if you fancy more salty food, feel free to add 1 tbsp or 2, make sure to add a bit of sugar to sweeten it at the same time, or it will be dead salty.

Once the meat is well seasoned, leave it to rest for about 15 minutes, then start beating the meat vigorously with a cutting knife, this has to be repeated continuously for at least 10 minutes, or until all the meat is well mixed (i.e. you cannot see the difference of fish and pork, and the mixed meat is tender and has some elasticity in it, hard huh?)

Do not forget to add in the chopped chives as well, this will add another layer of flavour to the meat later on when the dish is done.

This is how the meat looks like after all the mixing and beating, no doubt it is a bit like making the ingredients for Yong Tofu. Anyway, I guarantee you this dish is different, try it!

Ok, now it comes to the excited part, filling up those lychees! Remove all the lychee meat from the juice in the tin can, tap dry with kitchen towel. If you want, you can mix all those lychee meat with 1 tbsp of corn flour, that will ensure they are all well dried up. Keep the egg yolk for the last...

Use a teaspoon and carefully scoop in the mixed meat, make sure not to tear off the lychee meat as they are really soft and 'brittle'. After filling up those lychee round and firmly, brush with plain water, making sure they are all filled in tact and will not drop out easily...

Last thing, cook'em! Steam them for only 10 minutes, at most 15 minutes, no more than that! Remove from steamer, leave to cool. Use 1/4 cup of lychee juice from the can earlier, bring to boil in a saucepan, beat yolk and pour over the boiling juice through a sieve, turn of heat after about 1 minute. Pour juice over steamed 'dragon balls', sprinkle with dried chili flakes. Done, serve hot or warm.

*Note: The amount of meat given above is more than enough for the amount of lychee meat from one can of lychee, you can halve the proportion of the meat if you desire. If you prefer to use fresh lychee meat (due to its freshness), simply substitute the lychee juice with sugared water (remember, reduce consumption of sugar!). For those who are adventurous, try this, steam the dragon balls for 5 minutes then roast for another 8-10 minutes at 200 degrees Celsius. I think this will method will have an even better final result! Enjoy!

Back Again! Golden White Jade

2007-12-13T21:16:00.000+11:00

FINALLY! I reckon it has been really some time since my last post, all thanks to my overwhelming laziness and busy schedule recently. Now now, let me explain a bit, the last few weeks in Sydney had been spent by participating in trips to various places in New South Wales, not forgetting dining out at all those fabulous restaurants all around Sydney! It has been a truly fulfilling experience, especially to my own stomach I reckon!!! XD If by any chance that those who are reading this blog are interested in what I did in those trips, checkout my facebook photo albums, I made an effort to post some pictures, but sadly to say not each of it, hopefully you will find those place interesting and make an effort to visit them as well! I highly recommend the sand boarding activity at Port Stephens and seafood gastronomic experience new Hornsby River!

Well, let's not forget what I am use to posting, this recipe is one of the dish that I made when Connie asked me to cook one night's dinner, in a way a farewell dinner for Carrie's leaving as well. I really have to apologize to Connie as I promised her that I would post the recipe of this dish the very next following day, but obviously I did not do so... Ashamed Hence Connie, sorry for that, and let us check out that recipe I promised you, what you called it again? Golden White Jade was it? laughing

Ingredients: (serves 3)
500g Fresh Soft Tofu (sliced into rectangle pieces)
1 no. Canned Mango Slices
10g Crushed Peanuts (lightly toasted)
2 tbsp Cinnamon Powder
1 1/2 tbsp Corn Flour
1 tbsp Hot Paprika Powder
2 tbsp Light Soy Sauce
1 tbsp Sugar (not a must)
Salt and Pepper to taste
5 tbsp Vegetable Oil
2 cloves Garlic (finely chopped)
2 slices Ginger (finely chopped)

Method:

I wonder did everyone like the essay-like approach I tried out in the last two posts, but I think I am beginning to like that style as it makes things less formal and hence I will continue to use it and improvise as things go...

Mix 2 tbsp cinnamon powder with 1 1/2 tbsp cornflour in a bowl, stir in hot paprika powder and some pepper as well, mix well. Lightly coat each piece of tofu with the powder mixture, leave aside. Heat 3 tbsp oil in a non-stick pan, lightly fry the tofu pieces in hot oil until they start to turn yellow or gold-ish colour. Remove from on oil and leave on kitchen towel to rest. Drain but keep the mango juice from the canned mango. Mix the juices with the remaining powder mixture from earlier, leave aside. Heat 2 tbsp oil in a wok or pan, stir in chopped garlic and ginger and fry till aromatic. Stir in mango slices (cut into smaller pieces if desired) and fry for 1 minute before adding in the fried tofu, continue to stir-fry gently for another 2 minutes or so. Add in the sauce mixture and mix well, add at most 1/2 cup of water if the ingredients are too dry (the sauce should be thick enough to just coat the ingredients, not too watery), turn to high heat and bring to boil. Add the remaining seasoning to own suit own taste. Turn off heat, stir in toasted peanuts and mix well. Done, serve hot or warm before the sauce dries off, which is quite fast...

House Warming Potluck... Savoury Cups

2007-11-22T22:27:00.000+11:00

I think everyone has this fascination with Pot Luck since the last time we had one when Lee Shean, Kum Tak and I moved into our new place. Fortunately, this time around nearing the end of the year, we had another one to celebrate Livee and Fui Kiat moving into their new place, it's really quite a nice place I think, but frankly speaking, Pot Lucks are seriously more about the food! HaHaHa! We actually had a lot of dish that night, thanks to people who cooked and Fui Kiat who took away some orders from one of the Chinese restaurants around. Well, I wish I had the pictures that we took that night, but they are all with Livee and Fui Kiat, hence as much as I want to post about that night's event, I could only talk about the dish I made, as those are the only pictures I have...

So let's turn to the dish I made, this time around I made Pi-Tee, if I remembered the name correctly, this dish is actually available at the Chicken Rice Shop back in Malaysia, my aunt made it once as well, but obviously I made some serious amount of changes to it, HaHa. The ingredients used for this dish is also frequently used for San Choy Bao (Lettuce Wrap) as well, so feel free to use Iceberg Lettuce if you don't feel like making those cups, but they're not any hard anyway...

Ingredients: (makes..A LOT)
2 pack Wanton Wraps (about 120pc)
500g Minced Pork
450g Fresh Bean Sprouts (finely chopped)
1 bunch Chives (finely chopped)
2 Red Carrots (finely sliced/shredded)
1kg Button Mushroom (rinsed and diced)
5pc Thai Small Chili
3pc Lump Sugar
3 tbsp Light Soy Sauce
3 tbsp Dark Soy Sauce
2 tbsp Sea Salt (add more to suit own taste)
5 cloves Garlic (finely chopped)
2 tbsp Brown Sugar
2 tbsp Black Pepper Powder
3 slices Ginger (finely chopped)
4 tbsp Vegetable Oil
4 pc Khaffir Lime Leafs (finely chopped)
100g Skinned Peanuts (crushed and toasted)

Method:
I've always tried to make the 'methods' section more formal so that is easily readable, but recently I like to give the informal 'paragraphing' method a try....To make the cups, simply fit the wanton wraps into a muffin tray, u can use two wraps to make a cup if you wish to, then you will get 60 cups, or if you really want to make a lot of it, just one wrap for each muffin hole will do.

Just fit one wrap into each hole on the muffin tray, there is actually a special mould that would make the cups a lot nicer, but obviously I do not have it here, so I used what I had... Bake each tray in a preheated oven for 8-10 minutes at 200 degrees Celsius. This baking time might vary with different ovens, adjust accordingly...

These baked cups are made of two wanton wraps each, it would be a lot small and cuter if only one wrap was used, but I like them this way...

As for the ingredients, it is just a matter of frying them altogether, but the procedure is important, make sure those fast-cooked ingredients are stirred in towards the end, so that they do not loose the texture... Start of by heating the oil in a wok, stir fry the chopped garlic and ginger until fragrant, add in pork mince and followed by black pepper powder, stir fry until all turns meat-white and thoroughly cooked. Add diced mushroom at this point, followed by brown sugar, stir fry for 3 minutes. Add in chopped chives and chili, mix well, add light and dark soy sauce, salt and lump sugar, there should be quite a lot of sauce in the wok by now, add some water if there isn't. Cover with lid, braise over low heat until boiling point. Remove lid, stir in carrots, leave to cook for 2 minutes before adding chopped bean sprouts, braise for another 2 minutes and repeat the same with the chopped Khaffir lime leafs for 1 minute. Done. Stir in crushed peanuts at the end before serving. Done. Serve ingredients on baked cups prepared earlier.

Close up of the savoury cups

The Flower Cups Arrangement

Double Cooked Chicken... Derrick's Farewell Gift

2007-11-21T13:11:00.000+11:00

Derrick's farewell party was celebrated by a series of homemade dishes rather than a generous dining out at some restaurant. Partly due to the fact that other housemates of his still have a few papers to sit for during this exam period. Well, another reason I think, is probably because his housemates do not want to celebrate his leaving as he was leaving too early, you should stay longer in Sydney Derrick! HaHaHa. Just joking, do not take it too serious!

As per Derrick's request for something more generous and/or luxurious for his departing dinner, I agreed to make this poultry dish, while he took care of the other dishes, partly as a sign of gratitude to his housemates. Nevertheless, this one dish was worth the effort of all the other dishes, it took me a whole day preparing it, well I think it was partly due to the fact that it was my first time making it as well, I only came out with the idea of making this dish 2 days ago. Luckily it turned out as expected, or it would have ruined the party!

Sticking back to the making of this dish, let's first look at the ingredients needed, this dish serves about 4 to 5 person:

1 big Roasting Chicken (about 1.5kg)

100g Glutinous Rice (soaked overnight pre-use)

25g Sliced Chinese Shitake Mushroom (soaked with sugared water pre-use)

50g Chestnuts (rinsed and toasted pre-use)

10g Chinese Red Dates (soaked re-use)

1 tbsp Light Soy Sauce

1 tbsp Dark Soy Sauce

1 tbsp Sea Salt

1 tbsp Black Pepper Powder

2 tbsp Vegetable Oil

Water

3 pc Lump Sugar

Marinate

5 tbsp Sea Salt

2 tbsp Five Spice Powder

2 tbsp Black Pepper Powder

3 tbsp Light Soy Sauce

2 tbsp Dark Soy Sauce

Now, in terms of preparing the dish, rinse the chicken thoroughly, especially the inside of the chicken, pat dry with kitchen towel, apply sea salt thoroughly to the entire chicken, giving it a good massage at the same time. Leave aside for 15 minutes. Mix five spice powder, black pepper powder, light and dark soy sauce in a bowl, apply mixture thoroughly onto chicken, with the remaining sauce being poured into the chicken from the backside. Leave aside for 1 to 2 hours or more. I did mine for 3 hours.

Heat vegetable oil in a wok, add sliced mushroom and stir fry for 1 minute, add some brown sugar and salt to brown. Stir in Chinese red dates and chestnuts, mix well. Add in the glutinous rice soaked earlier, stir fry and mix well for 3 minutes. Add in all the remaining seasonings (except for the lump sugars), add water to half the level of the ingredients. Mix well and cover with lid, braise for 3 minutes. Remove lid and continue to stir fry for another 2 minutes, add some water if necessary...

Scoop all the stir-fried ingredients into the chicken, throw in the lump sugars before hand, use a spoon to make sure all the ingredients are packed tightly. Seal the opening behind the chicken with toothpicks. Done. Move chicken to a steamer, steam continuously for at least 1 hour over high heat. Add water to steamer when necessary.

After an hour, remove chicken from steamer and place it on a roasting pan, pour all the remaining sauces onto chicken. Roast in pre-heated oven at 200 degrees Celsius for 30 minutes, with the chicken turned sides at 15 minutes interval. Done. Serve hot or warm.

Sweet Chili Pumpkin and Spinach Salad

2007-11-19T15:55:00.000+11:00

Ingredients: (serves 3)
450g Pumpkin (Skinned and roughly chopped)
1 bundle English Spinach (about 6 bunch, rinsed and finely chopped)
15g Anchovy (fried pre-use)
3 tbsp Sweet Chili
2 tbsp Light Soy Sauce
1 tbsp Black Pepper Powder
1 tbsp Salt
2 tbsp Vegetable Oil
2 cloves Garlic (finely chopped)
2 slice Ginger (finely chopped)
2 cup water

Method:
1. Heat oil in a wok, stir fry ginger and garlic until aromatic. Add in pumpkin cutlets, stir fry for 2 minutes, add 1 cup water to cover pumpkin pieces, close lid and leave to braise for about 5 minutes.
2. Remove lid, add salt, pepper and 2tbsp sweet chili sauce, mix well, Stir in chopped spinach, stir well, add light soy sauce and another cup of water, cover with lid again and braise over low heat for 5 minutes.
3. Remove lid, turn to high heat, bring to boil. Done. Top with fried anchovies and remaining sweet chili sauce, mix well before eating.

Chinese Style Vegetarian Chicken Salad

2007-11-10T00:01:00.000+11:00

Ingredients: (serves 3)
325g Vegetarian Chicken (Thinly sliced, available at Asian stores)
250g Fresh Bean Sprouts
500g Chives (soaked and chopped into 1cm lengths)

1 tbsp Black and White Sesame (toasted, for garnishing)

2 tbsp Vegetable Oil

2 tbsp Sea Salt

1 tbsp Black Pepper Powder

Sauce:

2 tbsp Crunchy Peanut Butter

3 Small Spicy Chili (seeded and finely chopped)

2 tbsp Brown Sugar

1 tbsp Sea Salt

1 tbsp Light Soy Sauce

1 tbsp Dark Soy Sauce

1 tsp Black Pepper Powder

1 tbsp Vegetable Oil

3 tbsp Water

Method:
1. Braise beansprouts in a pot of boiling water for 2 minutes, remove from hot water and soak in ice cold water. Repeat with chopped chives.
2. Heat vegetable oil in a wok, stir fry sliced vegetarian chicken for 5 minutes, adding sea salt and black pepper powder in the process. Remove from wok and leave aside to cool.
3. On a plate, set base of bean sprouts, top with chives and the top most with the vegetarian chicken.
4. As for the sauce, heat oil in a saucepan, saute chopped chili for 1 minute, stir in the rest of the ingredients, with the water added at the last, turn to low heat and bring to boil. Done. Pour over the vegetarian chicken, chives and beansprouts platter prepared earlier. Serve hot or cold.

Stir-Fry Asparagus and Gluten Mix

2007-11-09T23:18:00.000+11:00

Ingredients: (serves 3-4)
3 bunch fresh Asparagus (roughly chopped into 1.5 inch pieces)
75g Fried Gluten (soaked until soft pre-use)
3 tbsp Woberry Fruit (soaked pre-use)
20g Salted Fish (toasted and crushed)
2 cloves Garlic (finely chopped)
2 slices Ginger (finely chopped)
2 tbsp Vegetable Oil
1 tbsp Sesame Oil
2 tbsp Light Soy Sauce
1 tbsp Oyster Sauce
1 tsp Black Pepper Powder
Pinch of Salt and Sugar

Method:
1. Heat oil in a wok, stir in chopped ginger and garlic, followed by asparagus, stir fry for 1 minute. Add pinch of salt and sugar. Continue to stir fry for 2 minutes.
2. Add soaked gluten, followed by wolberry fruit, continue to stir fry while adding oyster sauce and light soy sauce. Stir fry for another 3 to 5 minutes. Add water if necessary.
3. Give a good dash of black pepper powder and sesame oil before turning off heat, mix well. Top with toasted crush salted fish before serving. Mix well when serving.

Fried Pasta with Mushroom and Bean Sauce

2007-11-05T16:55:00.000+11:00

I have a lot of friends who always admire how good the smell of those noodles from the university's restaurants' are, they then often end up buying into those costly meals. But seriously, it does not cost that much, especially when they buy their ingredients in bulk. So I would like to reveal how to make one of those very aromatic fried noodles in this post. Despite the fact that I used pasta, it can be easily substituted with other noodles, so go for what you like!

Ingredients: (serves 1)
50g Pasta (cooked until desired tenderness in hot water)
25g Large White Button Mushrooms(thoroughly rinsed and sliced thinly)
25g Diced Pork (sliced thinly)
3 tbsp Fermented Black Bean (Soaked in water pre-use)
1 tbsp Black Bean Sauce
1 tbsp Soy Bean Paste
2 tbsp Light Soy Sauce
1 tsp Dark Soy Sauce
1 tbsp Black Pepper Powder
1 tbsp Brown Sugar
2 cloves Garlic (finely chopped)
2 slices Ginger (finely chopped)
4 petals Lettuce (any type, or use Choy Sum)
2 tbsp Vegetable Oil

Method:
1. Heat oil in wok and stir fry garlic and ginger until aromatic. Stir in pork slices first. Stir fry for 2 minutes before adding 1 tbsp light soy sauce. Stir-fry for another 1 minute.
2. Add in mushroom slices, stir fry for another 2 minutes before adding fermented black beans, soy bean paste, fermented bean paste, sugar and a splash of water. Stir fry for 2 minutes.
3. Stir in pasta at this point, add the remaining black pepper powder, light and dark soy sauce. Continue to stir fry for another 3 minutes over high heat, adding splashes of water if necessary. Stir in lettuce before serving. Done. Serve hot when it is aromatic.

Sesame Oil Grilled Aubergine

2007-11-05T10:10:00.001+11:00

Ingredients: (serves 3-4)
500g Aubergine (pick those small and long ones)
4 tbsp Sesame Oil
25g Bean curd Skin (Fu Chok, rinsed pre-use)
1 bunch Coriander (finely chopped)
5 cloves Garlic (diced)
2 tbsp Sugar
1 tbsp Salt
1 tbsp Light Soy Sauce
1 tbsp Dark Soy Sauce
1 tbsp Sweet Chili
1 tbsp Black Pepper Powder
2 tbsp Vegetable Oil

Method:
1. Wash the aubergines thoroughly, half them lengthwise. On a plate, mix 3 tbsp sesame oil with 1 tbsp sugar and salt. Coat halved aubergines thoroughly with sesame oil. Put to grill for about 30-40 minutes.
2. Slice the bean curd skin finely. Heat the vegetable oil in saucepan, lightly fry the diced garlic until golden brown, remove garlic. Throw in sliced bean curd skin, stir-fry for 2 minutes before adding dark and light soy sauce, sweet chili, sugar and black pepper powder. Continue to stir-fry for another 2 minutes. Add some water if necessary.
3. Add the remaining sesame oil into the saucepan before turning off heat, mix well.
4. Remove aubergine from grill, top with bean curd skin sauce, chopped coriander and fried garlic earlier. Done. Serve hot or cold.

Sweet Vinegar Ribs

2007-11-04T15:58:00.000+11:00

This is quite a effort taxing dish to make, but I think the outcome is really worth the effort. For those who like sweet and sour food, this is definitely a must try!

Ingredients: (serves 3-4)
1kg Chinese Spare Ribs
9 tbsp Dark Vinegar
5 tbsp Brown Sugar
3 tbsp Light Soy Sauce
2 tbsp Dark Soy Sauce
1 tbsp Black Sesame (lightly toasted)
1 tbsp White Sesame (lightly toasted)
1 to 2 tbsp Corn Flour
2-4 tbsp Water
Water
1 egg
Oil for frying
3 cloves Garlic (finely chopped)
3 slice Ginger (finely chopped)

Marinate:
3 tbsp Light Soy Sauce
1 tbsp Five Spice Powder
2 tbsp Chinese Shao Xing Cooking Wine
1 tbsp Sea Salt.

Method:
1. Chop the spare ribs into preferred sizes. Marinate with mentioned ingredients for at least 1 hour.
2. Heat oil in a wok, dissolve 2 tbsp corn flour with 4 tbsp water (can add more as long as the proportion is 1:2, make sure the batter is not too thick) and 1 egg. Coat ribs in batter and deep fry until they turn golden brown. Leave on kitchen towel to soak excess oil.
3. Dip all the ribs into hot oil again after all ribs are fried once, this is to release excess oil trapped in the ribs. remove from oil and leave aside.
4. Meanwhile, heat 3 tbsp of oil in a wok, stir in chopped ginger and garlic and fry until fragrant. Throw in the fried spare ribs and stir-fry for 2 minutes.
5. Add into the wok 6 tbsp dark vinegar, 3 tbsp brown sugar, dark and light soy sauce, mix all ingredients well, add water to cover ribs and cover with lid, braise over medium heat for about 30 minutes or until the water has reduced to less than 1/4 of the initial water level.
6. Remove lid, stir the ingredients a thoroughly, add in the remaining brown sugar and vinegar, mix well, add one small bowl of water, cover with lid and braise over high heat until the ingredients start to boil.
7. Remove lid, give the ingredients a good stir, turn off heat, done. Sprinkle with toasted black and white sesame before serving.

Cold Mixed Kuay Teow

2007-11-04T15:52:00.001+11:00

Ingredients: (serves 1)
50g Dried Kuay Teow (can opt for fresh ones)
10 g Skinned Peanuts (coarsely chopped and lightly toasted) 3 pc Small Thai Chili (seeded and finely chopped)
2 slices Ginger (finely chopped)
2 cloves Garlic (finely chopped)
3 tbsp Sesame Oil
2 tbsp Light Soy Sauce
1 tbsp Dark Soy Sauce
1 tbsp Black Pepper Powder
1 tsp Sugar
1 tsp Salt
1 small Cucumber (finely chopped or grated, leave in ice cold water) Toasted Black and White Sesame to garnish

Method:
1. If using dried Kuay Teow, boil in hot water until turns white and tender, drain water, soak in ice cold water and leave in fridge.
2. Lightly toast ginger slices in hot pat, add 2 tbsp sesame oil, stir in chopped Thai chili and stir fry for another 2 minutes.
3. Add light and dark soy sauce, sugar, salt and pepper, stir over low heat until everything is well dissolved. Turn off heat.
4. Drain water from Kuay Teow, mix with sauce evenly, add in toasted peanuts, followed by last splash of sesame oil. Top with chilled cucumber. Done, sprinkle with black and white sesame before serving.

Chinese Sausage Salad

2007-11-02T21:16:00.003+11:00

This is another very simple dish for those who do not like to spend much time on cooking. I particularly recommend this dish to those Chinese Sausage fans, the correct taste should have a mild scent of chinese sausage's sweetness in every bite, hope everyone likes it. Enjoy!

Ingredients: (serves 2-3)
2 pc Chinese Sausage (sliced thinly diagonally accross)
1 pc Cucumber (skinned, diced and keep in iced water)
2 pc Fresh Tofu (diced)
1 tsp White Sesame
1 tsp Black Sesame
1 tbsp Lemon/ Lime Juice

Method:
1. In a sasucepan or a small pot, lightly toast the black and white sesame until fragrant. Put aside.
2. Similarly, toast the sliced sausages without adding any oil or ingredients. The sausages will turn brown and release its oil. Retain this oil at the end of toasting process.
3. Lightly fry the diced tofu with the oil from the Chinese Sausage earlier until they turn brownish.
4. Mix all ingredients together, pour the last bit of oil from the Chinese Sausage onto the mixture. Give the dish a splash of lemon juice and sweet chili, sprinkle with toasted sesame. Done. Serve hot or cold.

Steamed Tofu and Mushroom with Fermented Tofu Sauce

2007-11-02T21:16:00.002+11:00

Ingredients: (serves 4)
450g Fresh Tofu (about 5 pieces, sliced lengthwise)
40g Chinese Black Shitake Mushroom (get those with long stems/legs, pre-soaked with 2 pc lump sugar for at least 3 hours)
25g Skinned Peanuts (diced and toasted pre-use)
1 pc Fermented Tofu
2 cloves Garlic (finely chopped)
2 slices Ginger (finely chopped)
2 tbsp Light Soy Sauce
2 tbsp Brow Sugar
2 tbsp Vegetable Oil

Method:

1. Cut the stems of the mushrooms and keep for use, do not throw them away; slice the mushrooms horizontally to get 2 or 3 slices from each mushroom. Arrange tofu slices and mushroom on a plate. (preferably, mix the tofu and mushroom slices with some extra salt and sugar before arranging on plate.)

2. Steam the tofu and mushroom for 20-25 minutes over high heat.

3. Meanwhile, brown the mushroom stems with 1 tbsp brown sugar in a small sauce pan. Add garlic, ginger and vegetable oil and stir-fry until fragrant.

4. Mix fermented tofu, light soy sauce and sugar in a bowl with some water, add in the sauce pan, simmer over low to medium heat to bring to boil. Keep stirring for the meantime.

5. Upon boiling, stir in toasted peanuts, turn off heat immediately, mix well and pour on top of steamed tofu and mushroom. Done, serve hot or warm.

Who says Spinach is only for stir-frying?

2007-11-02T21:16:00.001+11:00

Some days back when I was buying some vegetables for dinner I overheard this old lady asking a younger miss how to cook those english spinach that the young lady was going to buy. She answered without hesitating: "Stir-fry". I was a bit let down actually as I was hoping that she would recommend something special or new. Later when I went back home, I decided to make this dish and post it, so that anyone who reads this post would know that, hey spinach can be used for other dishes too.

Long story cut short, there are actually a lot ways to use spinach in cooking, especially in western cuisine. But let's not go there, just stick to the Chinese style cooking, what would you do with a bunch of englih spinach in you refrigerator besides the most fundamental stir-frying? Check this out...

Ingredients: (serves 1 to 2)
2 bunches English Spinach (cleaned and seperate stem and leafs)
10g Dried Anchovies (soaked preuse)
50g Diced Pork meat (cut into thin strips)
2 tbsp Vegetable Oil
2 slice Ginger (thinly sliced)
2 cloves Garlic (finely chopped)
2 tbsp Light Soy Sauce
1 tbsp Sea Salt
1 tsp Sugar
1 tsp Black Pepper Powder
1 Egg
3 bowls Water

Marinate:
1 tbsp Light Soy Sauce
1 tbsp Shao Xing Rice Wine
1 tbsp Sesame Oil
1 tsp Sugar
1 tsp Pepper

Method:
1. Marinade the pork slices with the marinate ingredients for at least 15 minutes.
2. Lightly toast anchovies in a small pot, add garlic and ginger, stir until fragrant, add oil to fry. Stir in marinated pork slices and stir fry for about 2 minutes, add the spinach stems, followed by 1 tbsp light soy sauce and stir fry for another 2 minutes.
3. Add water to cover ingredients, cover with lid and ring to boil on low to medium heat.
4. Remove lid upon boiling, add in spinach leafs and the remaining seasonings. Cover with lid and bring to boil again on high heat.
5. Upon boiling, beat the egg with some hot soup and pour back into the pot quickly. Done. Serve hot with rice.

Back Again... FINALLY!!! (Tomato Soup)

2007-11-02T21:16:00.000+11:00

It has been really some time since I last posted any new dish, all thanks to my Design! Well, lucky thing is, everything is finally over now, I will be posting more actively this month as other mates drown themselves in mountains of books and texts trying to finish all their syllabus for their exams. ^^ EVIL! Nevertheless, to celebrate the end of my semester, I will first post 6 dishes that I made over this busy period, followed by other new dishes everyday! Hope that everyone enjoys reading and trying out the dishes. =)

Well, let's start with soups, who does not like soups? =)

This is a simple soup to make which I think is especially suitable for those lone cooks, so don't feel bad if you are cooking and dining alone, I have had many similar sessions as well. =)

Ingredients: (serves 1)

2 medium size Tomato (diced)

2 pc Fresh Tofu (diced, or cut into 9 cubes each)

1/2 Spanish Red Onion (diced)

2 tbsp Tomato Paste (use tomato ketchup if you don't have it)

1 tbsp Dried Basil

1 tbsp Salt

1 tbsp Olive Oil

1 tsp Sugar

1 tsp Pepper

2 bowls Water

Method:

1. Brown red on ion in a small pot together with olive oil and sugar, stir in diced tomato and tomato Paste. Add basil and stir fry until fragrant. Add water, cover with lid and bring to boil.

2. Remove lid, add pepper and salt, throw in the diced tofu, cover with lid again and simmer with low heat until boil. Done. Serve hot.

Sweet and Spicy Tomato Drumsticks

2007-10-19T00:01:00.000+10:00

Ingredients: (serves 2-3)
350g Mini Chicken Drumsticks
1 tbsp Tomato sauce
1 tbsp Sambal Chili Sauce
1 tbsp Vegetable Oil
1 tbsp Sugar
2 tbsp Light Soy Sauce
1 tsp Salt
1 tsp Dark Soy Sauce
1 tsp Tandoori Curry Powder
1 tsp Sweet Paprika Powder
3 medium size Tomato (cut into big chunks)

Method:
1. Mix all the ingredients together except tomatoes, leave aside to marinade for at least 30 minutes.
2. Roast in preheated oven for 30-45 minutes at 200 degrees Celsius or until chicken turn reddish-brown. Remove dish from oven.
3. In a heated wok or pan, pour in all the ingredients from the roasted dish earlier. Stir in tomatoes, allow to cook for a while (best with lid covered). When sauce starts to thicken (after about 3 minutes), turn off heat, done, serve hot.

Note: Add in cumin seeds while marinating, the dish will have another flavour and aroma.

The Modest Treasure Box

2007-10-18T23:30:00.000+10:00

It has been quite some time again since I posted my last dish, I think I will not be able to make hit more than 15 dishes this month, all thanks to my assignments at uni. =( My brain has been thinking a lot of my design rather than food recently, well, it is good in a way I reckon, but bad for the little chef inside me...

But anyway, check out this 'Modest Treasure Box', a simple dish that was inspired from last weekend's "Cook of The Year" event held by UNIBUDS. In fact, I got quite a number of ideas from that event, just that time has been prohibiting me from making any of those ideas come to post! Just grumbling for the sake of it! ^^

Ingredients: (makes 12)
900g (12 pieces) Fresh Tofu
300g Minced Pork
2 tbsp English Mustard Sauce
2 tbsp Crunchy Peanut Butter
2 tbsp Light Soy Sauce
1 tbsp Black Pepper Powder
1 tbsp Vegetable Oil
1 Egg
1 tbsp Cornflour (mixed with 2 tbsp water before use)
3 tbsp Five Spice Powder

Method:
1. In a bowl, mix minced pork, English mustard, peanut butter, light soy sauce, black pepper powder. In another bowl, mix vegetable oil, cornflour and egg. Mix two bowls of ingredients together at last until it forms a paste-like form.
2. Rinse all the tofu thoroughly, pad dry with kitchen towel, coat all tofu pieces thoroughly with five spice powder.
3. Handling the tofu, cut off the 1/3 top of a piece of tofu, score a square outline on the remaining 2/3 of the tofu, dig out the content carefully with a spoon. Repeat with remaining tofu.
4. Scoop in some mixed paste into the hole on each tofu, press firmly to ensure it is full, cover back with top piece of tofu. Repeat with remaining tofu.
5. On a baking tray, place a sheet of aluminium foil, oil with butter or vegetable oil. Arrange tofu on top of aluminium foil. Bake in preheated oven for 30 minutes at 200 degrees Celsius. Done. Serve hot or warm.

Spicy Chili and Garlic Tofu

2007-10-09T16:24:00.000+10:00

I was inspired to make this dish after my housemate make a similar spicy dish the other day before. I think most people who like spicy food will like this one, enjoy!

Ingredients: (serves 3-4)
600g Soft Silken Tofu (sliced to desired sizes)
1 tbsp Sweet Paprika
1 tbsp Hot Paprika
1 tbsp Black Pepper Powder
2 tbsp Soy Bean Paste
1 tbsp Light Soy Sauce
10 pc fresh Curry Leafs
10 cloves Garlic (1 finely chopped, others diced)
10 small Thai Chili (the SPICY ones! Halved with seeds removed)
2 pc Khaffir Lime Leafs (finely chopped just before use)
6 tbsp Vegetable Oil

Method:
1. Fry 9 cloves worth of diced garlic with 2 tbsp vegetable oil, remove oil and garlic when they turn golden brown. Leave aside.
2. In a bowl, mix sweet and hot paprika, and black pepper powder. Coat tofu slices with a thin layer of the mixture. Parboil tofu slices with 4 tbsp oil. (The tofu pieces should be golden brown and nice and fluffy after being fired) Leave aside to cool. Drain Oil.
3. Heat remaining 1tbsp vegetable oil in wok, fry chili and curry leafs together, add remaining 1 clove worth of finely chopped garlic, stir well before adding in soy bean paste and light soy sauce. Add in chopped lime leafs just before serving.
4. Top sauce over fried tofu pieces. Sprinkle fried garlic and oil over the dish. Ready to serve.

Chinse Sausage and Hasbrown Pasta

2007-10-09T15:54:00.000+10:00

I had this sudden urge to eat some chinese sausage the other day, and I couldn't think of any other more funky idea to cook this dish, it is delicious! The distinctive chinese sausage aroma merged with the crispy, salty and yet another distinctive flavour of hashbrowns, try it!

Ingredients: (serves 1 big eater)
200g Pasta (just cook it in anyway you would prepare other dired pasta)
2 pc Hasbrown Patties (Roasted in oven until crisp and crunchy, takes about 15 minutes with a 200 degrees Celicius setting)
1 pc Chinese Sausage (use more if desired, skinned and thinly sliced diagonally)3tbsp Thick Mushroom Soup (use those pre-canned ones, Campbell sounds good)
1 cloves Garlic (finely chopped)
3 petals Fancy Lettuce (soaked and cleaned, coarsely chopped)
Pepper and Salt to taste

Method:
1. In a pan or wok, heat sliced chinese sausage without oil, keep stirring or flipping sides to ensure it does not turn black. (use low heat) This should be done for about 2 minutes or so. What you're really up to is the oil from the sausages, once there is enough, stir in the garlic.
2. Add in thick mushroom soup paste at this point, add a bit of water if desired, but not too much. Stir in pasta, add pepper and salt to taste. Continue stirring, add in lettuce.
3. Turn off heat. Add coarsely cut hashbrown chunks and stir well. Done, serve hot.

Stir Fried Yum Bean and Black Woody Fungus

2007-10-09T15:37:00.000+10:00

The next dish is one of the favourites that my mom taught me, so this is kind of a traditional dish, hopefully everyone likes it.

Ingredients: (serves 3-4)

1kg Yum Bean (skinned and finely sliced, as thin as possible!)

80g Black Woody Fungus (pre-soaked until soft and sliced thinly)

2 tbsp Brown Sugar

1 tsp Salt

3 tbsp Black Pepper Powder (cut less to taste)

2 tbsp Light Soy Sauce (add more to taste)

10g Dried Shrimp (soaked in water before use)

3 cloves Garlic (finely chopped)

2 slices Ginger (finely chopped)

2 tbsp Vegetable oil

Water as required

Method:

1. In a heated wok, add dried shrimp, stir-fry for a minute until fragrant. Add in chopped garlic and ginger, stir fry for another couple of minutes before adding vegetable oil.

2. Stir in sliced black woody fungus, add sugar at this point. Continue to stir-fry all the time.

3. Add in sliced yum bean, mix the ingredients well, add all the seasoning at this point apart from the black pepper powder. That has to go in phase by phase.

4. Continue to stir fry and add pepper every now and then (remember only 3tbsp). Add water as required as well, to prevent the dish from going dead dry.

5. Check if the yum bean can be easily cut into two, the dish is basically done, serve hot.

Five Spice Pumpkin Drumsticks Stew

2007-10-09T15:11:00.000+10:00

I have not been blogging for sometime now, thanks to an elective I took, never thought that it would take up that much time... But anyway, I have been keeping all my photos of those dishes that I made over the last week, so today I will post a few of them once and for all! Check out this pumpkin stew that I made, it's really delicious, especially the gravy, something that is nice about it that is indescribable....

Ingredients: (serves 3)
500g Mini Chicken Drumsticks (about 9)
400g Pumpkin (coarsely chopped)
400g White Button Mushrooms (sliced thickly)
1 tbsp Five Spice Powder
1 tbsp Fermented Black Bean Paste
1 tbsp Salt (more to suit own taste)
2 tbsp Black Pepper Powder
2 tbsp Light Soy Sauce
6 tbsp Vegetable Oil
1 tbsp Brown Sugar
2 stem Spring Onion (coarsely chopped)
3 cloves Garlic (finely chopped)
2 slices Ginger (finely copped)
Water

Method:
1. Marinade the chicken drumsticks with five spice powder, 1 tbsp light soy sauce and 1 tbsp black pepper powder, leave aside.
2. Heat vegetable oil in a wok, parboil the pumpkin chunks until they turn golden brown.
3. Remove pumpkin chunks from oil, pour away excess oil, keeping about 3 tbsp, parboil the drumsticks with this remaining oil, remove from oil when they turn golden brown.

4. In the same wok, stir fry sliced mushrooms, add brown sugar, continue to stir fry for another 1 minute or 2. Stir in garlic and ginger until fragrant. Add in pumpkin and drumsticks at this point, continue to stir fry.

5. Stir in fermented black bean paste, light soy sauce, salt and pepper. Subsequently, stir in pumpkin and drumsticks prepared earlier. Add water to cover at least half of ingredients, stir well and bring to boil. Cover with wok lid and turn to low heat, braise for about 10 to 15 minutes. (You can change to use pot at this point if you want.)

6. Check occasionally to make sure there is always enough water and the gravy does not dry off.

7. Stir in spring onions just before removing from heat. Done. Serve hot. Enjoy!

Bamboo Shoots Wrap

2007-10-04T22:45:00.000+10:00

Wanted to make something that literally 'wraps' that day, not sure why though, but I did make it at the end. The end product was not bad at all, but maybe just have to control the duration of steaming it, then it would be better! Check the recipe out...

Ingredients: (makes 9)
25g Bean curd Skin (Foo-Chok, approximate weigh, cut to make 9 pieces)
300g Bamboo Shoots Strips
2pc Chinese Sausage (skinned and finely chopped)
1 tbsp Light Soy Sauce
1 tbsp Black Pepper Powder
1 tbsp Brown Sugar
1 tsp Sweet Paprika Powder
1 tsp Cinnamon Powder
2 bunch Chives

Method:
1. Soak the bean curd skin in lukewarm water 1 hour beforehand. Leave aside.
2. Marinade the bamboo shoot strips with light soy sauce, black pepper powder, brown sugar, sweet paprika and Cinnamon powder. Leave aside.
3. Clean the chives thoroughly with water, steam in hot water pot for 5 minutes or so.

4. Pick a piece of bean curd skin, place 2 tbsp bamboo shoot strips on one end. Top with 1/2 tbsp finely chopped Chinese sausage. Pick one end of the bean curd skin (where the ingredients are near to), roll firmly while pressing out excess water and air, seal with corn starch at the other end of the roll.

5. Pick 2 strips of chives, cross tie around the wrap, turn the wrap around and tie another knot if desired. Repeat step 4 and 5 with remaining ingredients.
6. Place all wraps in a oiled bowl or plate, steam for 10 minutes. Done, serve hot.
7. Serve with sweet chili sauce or simply dip into some light soy sauce.

Spicy-Ganza

2007-09-30T12:57:00.001+10:00

Good news for those who like extremely spicy stuff, this SzeChuan Style Spicy Hotpot will surely spice up your whole dining experience! We actually visited the place before the university's break actually started, partly to celebrate the break if the semester, and the upcoming Mid-Autumn festival, kill two birds with one stone! HAHA

It was a tiring day as it was studio's submission and presentation that day, but anyway, managed to get through it, and we ended up in the city. Despite the down pouring rain, nothing could stop us from getting to out destination, do anything for food! HAHA

Well, as soon as we were there, it was clear that the restaurant is not only known to us, check out that crowd, it was the same condition throughout the night, and even when we were about to leave, that was like around 10-ish, there were still some occupied tables in the restaurant. Something you will not find much in really Aussie-restaurants! I think it is an Asian thing! HAHA

We ordered this noodle, which I forgot what the name was, but it was really good! The noodles were soft and tender, with some elasticity upon biting it! And this soup was oily with a mild spice in it, it just goes slurp... down the throat! DELICIOUS!

Now I did mentioned Hotpot did I? In Malaysia we call it steamboat, but what ever it is called, that night's pot/boat was really nice! Now for those who are mad for spicy stuff, just go for the whole spicy pot, not necessary to take this Ying-Yang pot, though the original soup was really nice as well. But yeah, if you are looking for a cough or an excitement of spice in every mouth-full of food you take, go for the spicy one, the spiciest of spicy hot pot I have ever taken I reckon!

Now, obviously hot pot involves a lot of meat-eating, so really sorry for the Vegans, despite the fact that See Kuan was complaining that there was not enough vege and greens, most of us just kept eating and eating, stuffing the face with meat, ah, carnivorous meal!

What is the point of coming out to eat and not having a group picture? The whole point of eating, is to get together! HAHA... Su Sheng from left, Min Sean, Lee Shean, Kum Tak, ME, See Kuan, Wen Liang and...eh..where is Xiao Pan?

Haha, will not forget you Xiao Pan, need a special photo to show how cute you are! Haha, should have taken a special one with you only though... :p

Another group one, food food food, people people people...

Now a special one with See Kuan, hehehe :p

Lee Shean was shocked when See Kuan took a photo of her taking the delicious noodles mentioned earlier, good one See Kuan!

Wondering why is he sleeping? He didn'y sleep for two days straight! I rather finish and wrap up my work as soon as possible next time, two days! Can you imagine?

Another sneaky one by See Kuan, she is good at it! But seriously, what am I looking at?.... Looking forward to come back again! Go find out about it dear readers! The name of the shop is ShanCheng Hotpot King, we went to the one near market city, there is one at Hurtsville...Enjoy!

Mini Wine Drumsticks

2007-09-28T22:42:00.000+10:00

I picked this recipe from my mom, simply because its simple to prepare and everyone just loves it, give it a try, I made it a couple of times since I came here, and almost all who tried it liked it...

Ingredients: (serves 3-4)
600g Mini Chicken Drumsticks
10 tbsp Chinese Shao Xing Rice Wine
2 tbsp Sesame Oil
3 tbsp Light Soy Sauce
1 tbsp Sugar
1 tbsp Black Pepper Powder
25g Lily Flower Pods (pre-soaked for at least 15 minutes)
25g Wolberry Fruit (pre-soaked for at least 15 minutes)
25g Black Woody Fungus (pre-soaked for at least 3 hours, slice to desired shape and sizes)
10g Red Dates (pre-soaked for at least 15 minutes)
50g Chinese Black Shitake Mushroom (pre-soaked for at least 3 hours with warm water, slice to desired shape and sizes)

Method
1. Marinade chicken drumsticks with 3 tbsp rice wine, 1 tbsp
sesame oil, 1 tbsp light soy sauce and black pepper powder. Leave aside to rest for at least 30 minutes. ( I did mine for 2 hours plus)
2. Mix the remaining seasoning (except the wine) with lily flower pods, wolberry fruit, red dates, black woody fungus and shitake mushrooms. Leave aside for 15 minutes or so.
3. Heat up a steamer, lay drumsticks at the bottom of a bowl or plate, top with the remaining ingredients, place in steamer as soon as water boils. Leave to steam for about 20-30 minutes. Done. Mix well before serving hot. (Add soy sauce and not salt if the dish is not salty enough)

Mid Autumn Experiment!

2007-09-25T15:50:00.000+10:00

This was my first time baking mooncakes, and seriously speaking, it ain't that easy! But it was a lot of fun! I literally baked until 2.30am yesterday (first time staying up for baking and not architecture! laughs*), and was thinking of whether or not to make another set of recipe, but at the end of the second recipe, my brain was really urging me to go to bed already, hence, I had to stop and clean up the mess, looking forward to the next mooncake baking session!

I actually used 2 different recipes yesterday, one was gathered and improvised from heaps of websites on the internet, the other was improvised from Su Yin's (hopefully this is enough to address your works >.<). Anyway, the first one resulted in a darker mooncake skin colour, while Su Yin's was lighter in colour, so it really depends what type of outcome the chef prefers... ^^

Well, considering it was my first time baking mooncakes, far away from home, I reckon the results were really satisfying (without any special utensils, it was tough!), especially when I saw those mooncakes come out from oven, and even more when I bite them! laughs* If you asked me whether all the attempts went successful, I would say, NO! but this is the advantage of blogging, I don't have to show everything! XD

Check out a few of them in Detail (first time using this word out of architecture lol)

Who can miss out pig faces during occasions like this XD Oink Oink, shrugs*

Nemo's friend, hahaha, the idea stroke me as the ingredients were running out and I was working on the last piece of dough I had made.

I wanted to make a Lotus Flower initially, but obviously it didn't turn out as expected, but hey, it's still looks like a flower, of some sort. lol

Fish swimming around lotus in white pond* painted by Archicook! Hahaha

Ok, ok, I do miss home, partly because there is Sarawak Pineapples back home! The darker skin colour is due to the use of the other recipe, not because it's over burnt...

I wanted to make rabbits like Su Yin did, but the dough I used turned out darker, made them look like mouse instead... >.<

Finally got it RIGHT!!!

2007-09-25T15:14:00.000+10:00

I have been trying out how to work this self-created recipe right a few times, and yesterday night was really a rewarding experience as I finally got it right!

Ingredients: (serves 1 big eater)
3pc Middle Cut Bacon

25g Black Woody Fungus (finely chopped)

3 cloves Garlic (finely chopped)

3 petals large Chinese Cabbage

2 tsp Sugar

2 tsp dried Oregano
Pepper and Salt to taste

Method:

1. Steam the Chinese cabbage for about 5 minutes or until just slightly soft beforehand, leave to cool.

2. Meanwhile, chop the black woody fungus and garlic, mix well, season with sugar, oregano and pinch of salt and pepper.

3. Lay one piece of cabbage on a dry surface, top with bacon, spread over with some pepper, add about 1tbsp black woody fungus mixture on top, roll over, make sure the wrap is tight, hold with toothpick.

4. Repeat with the other two pieces of cabbage and bacon.

5. Place the wraps in a roasting bowl, cover with aluminium foil. Place bowl on top of a tray filled with some water. Bake in pre-heated oven for 20 minutes at 250 degrees Celsius.

6. Remove bowl from oven, remove aluminium foil, put bowl into oven again (without the tray) and roast for 5-10 minutes at 200 degrees Celsius. Done.

The picture shows how it looks like after the final roasting process, I personally like the 'slight;y-burnt' effect that the roasting gives. But remember don't overdo it, it will taste weird. I are my warps with a simple spaghetti dish, give a good drizzle a spicy chili sauce, it literally brings the entire dish to another level of enjoyment!

Cabbage Soup

2007-09-21T23:58:00.000+10:00

Now I know that the name of the post does not sound interesting, but I had really tasted a few times these very simple cabbage soup that others just cannot seem to make them taste good! Please try this recipe, I think it will taste good for most people...

Ingredients: (serve 5-6)
1/2 Chinese Cabbage (about 375g)
2 tbsp Vegetable Oil
8 Chinese Shitake Mushrooms(pre-soaked for 3 hours, diced)
1 Brown Onion (can use more if desired, diced)
1 Egg
5 large bowls of water
3 tbsp Light Soy Sauce
Salt, Sugar and Pepper to taste

Method:
1. In a pot, dry toast brown onion and mushroom, add sugar and salt to brown and bring out the flavour. Add oil and stir fry for 2 minutes.
2. Add in the stems of the Chinese cabbage first, followed by light soy sauce, fry for a minute or two, add water, cover with pot lid and bring to boil.
3. Add in the cabbage leafs upon boiling, cover and bring to boil again. Turn to low heat and braise for 20 minutes. Add salt and pepper to taste. Stir and mix well.
4. Before serving, turn to high heat, bring to boil. In a bowl, break and egg, get pour in a ladle-full of soup, stir and mix well before adding back as soon as possible into the pot of soup. Done. Serve hot.

Steamed Pork Ribs with Fermented Black Bean and Wolberry Fruit

2007-09-21T23:36:00.000+10:00

I remember back in Malaysia there when I use to visit any Dim Sum stores for morning yum cha sessions, there would always be this dish on the selection tray, but in most cases I would take this dish, as I thought there was nothing special about the dish, might as well get other dim sums. But now when I am here in Australia, I just couldn't help to miss that particular dish ( I did try it for once or twice). Hence, when my friends asked me to make something out of the pork ribs they bought, this dish came straight into mind, and guess what, my friends liked it! Haha

Ingredients: (serves 3-4)
800g Pork Ribs (try American Pork Ribs, that is what it is called in Australia)
50g fermented Black Bean
50g Wolberry Fruit
10tbsp Chinese Cooking Shao Xing Wine
1 tbsp Sesame Oil
1 tbsp Dark Soy Sauce
3 tbsp Light Soy Sauce
3cm Ginger (finely chopped)
2 tbsp Black Pepper Powder

Method:
1. Chop the ribs into desired sizes, I did mine 1cm slices, as the meat that I used was not American Pork Ribs, more of pork rib meat. If you are using American Pork Rib, it should be about 3cm copped cutlets.
2. In a bowl, mix shao xing wine, sesame oil, ginger, salt, dark and light soy sauce together with the ribs. Leave to marinate for at least 1 hour. I did mine 2 hours plus.
3. Soak the wolberry fruit and fermented black bean separately, drain the water before cooking, mix into the mixture earlier.
4. Steam for at least 15-30 minutes, depending on bowl or plate size, and the steamer size, but 20 minutes should generally be sufficient to get all the ribs cooked thoroughly. Serve hot.

Note: Stir and mix all the ingredients well upon removal from steamer.

Simplest Pasta Dish

2007-09-21T23:21:00.000+10:00

To those who think that making pasta is a big hassle, I reckon this dish would change your view. I made this during a lovely afternoon a few days back when I was busy rushing for my studio submission and presentation. Hence, I guarantee, this one is really easy to make, and taste really good!

Ingredients: (serves 1)
150g spaghetti
3 cloves Garlic (coarsely chopped)
1 tsp Dried Oregano leafs
1 tbsp Butter
5 Fresh Basil Leafs (can use more, finely chopped)
3 tbsp Extra Light Olive Oil
Salt and Pepper to taste

Method:
1. Boil a pot of water, add dried Oregano leafs and a pinch of salt, followed with spaghetti and cook until desired tenderness. Remove from heat, drain water and add butter to melt, mix well.
2. In a sauce pan, dry-toast the garlic, add olive oil and salt, sautee over low heat, stir in cooked spaghetti and mix well. Stir in fresh basil leaf before right before removing from heat. Done. Serve hot or cold. Top with any extra sauce but it is delicious enough with the salted olive oil.

Italian Angel's Hair, Japanese Style?

2007-09-15T01:10:00.000+10:00

What do you do with heaps of seaweed, miso paste, and only Italian Angel's Hair in your cupboard? Haha, check it out!

Ingredients: (serves 1)
200g Angel's Hair Pasta (pre-cooked in hot water, stir in some butter after removed from water)
25g Dried Seaweed (pre-soaked in water until soft)
5 bunch of Parsley (more or less to personal preference)
3 cloves Garlic (finely chopped)
1/2 Spanish Red Onion (Coarsely sliced)
1 tbsp Light Olive Oil
2 tbsp Miso Paste
2 eggs
1/2 cup Water
Salt and Pepper to taste
Pinch of Sugar
Few Shredded Cheese

Method:
1. In a heated wok, dry fry garlic and onion, add pinch of sugar and salt to brown, followed by olive oil to saute.
2. Stir in seaweed, stir fry for a minute or two, and add in pasta. Stir-fry for another 3 minutes. Add water, followed by miso paste. Continue to stir fry for about 5 minutes, stir in some shredded cheese, make sure the sauce does not dry off. Done.
3. Serve on a plate, top with two half-boiled eggs (add a very egg-gy flavour to the whole. Mix with roughly chopped parsley, adds another layer of aroma to the pasta. Enjoy!

Note: There is no meat in this dish, so pure Vegans, you know what to do twist about to make it to suit your diet! =)

Apple and Bacon Roll with Cinnamon Honey Sauce

2007-09-15T00:42:00.000+10:00

FEELING STRESSED! The assignments and the submission to meet next week is simply driving my nerves to breaking point! Everyone in the household is under immense pressure and we hardly talk as everyone is thinking of their work and their progress. How to overcome that?

DON'T THINK ABOUT IT!!!

Now here's something really worth thinking about, I reckon cooking is really theraputhic, anyone with me? Making something simple everyday gives you certain sense of achievement! >.< In addition to that, you (well at least myself) get feel relieved and happy deep inside when you see something nice created with your own hands. (This reminds me of Su Yin's cakes) But anyway, check out the recipe...

Ingredient: (serves 1)
1 strip Middle Bacon
1/2 a Large Apple (use Royal Gala if red or Granny Smith if Green) (diced, or cut into chunks)
2 stick Celery (coarsely chopped)
2 tsp Cinnamon Powder
1 tbsp Honey
1 tbsp Butter
1/3 cup water
Few Basil Leafs (coarsely chopped, add some to pot of boiling water)
Salt and Pepper to taste

Method:
1. Place bacon strip in a pot of boiling water, leave to braise for 3 minutes or less. Remove from water. Leave to cool for a couple of minutes.
2. In a bowl, mix all apple chunks with 1tsp cinamon powder and the rest of basil leafs. Lay bacon on dry surface, place some apple chunks on top of bacon and roll over carefully, hold with toothpick if neccessary. Roast in preheated oven at 200 degrees Celcius for 15 minutes.
3. Melt butter in a saucepan, add the remaining apples and sautee for a minute or two, add water, bring to boil, turn to low heat and slowly stir in honey.
4. On a plate, place chopped celery, top with roasted bacon, pour over with honey apple sauce. Done. Serve hot or cold.

Finger Food Anyone?

2007-09-12T09:42:00.000+10:00

Another dish I would like to introduce, also involves white raddish and tofu, it is easy to make, and meant to be served as finger food, or as entrees before starting on main dishes.

Ingredients: (makes 12)

1/3 White Raddish (about 100g) (finely sliced to form thin-circle slices)

100g Fried Tofu Puffs (Cut diagonally)

3 tbsp Soy Bean Paste

1 tbsp Chili Sauce

1 pc Dried Chili (seeds removed and finely chopped)

1/2 tbsp Light Soy Sauce

1/2 tbsp Sugar

Bunch of Parsley

Method:

1. Steam the sliced raddish and tofu puffs for about 10 minutes or more, or until the white raddish slices are soft and tender.

2. In a bowl, mix soy bean paste, chili sauce, dried chili, light soy sauce and sugar together, leave aside.

3. Lay the white raddish slices on a plate, preferably two slices each patch (beware of how hot the raddish is). Give each patch a teaspoon full of the mixed paste.

4. Top with parsley and a tofu puff each. Done.

Note: This is a complex taste dish, each bite of each serving should result in an intense flavour of the mixed paste, the sweetness of the raddish, and the strong scent of the parsley. The tofu is to compliment the intensity of the bean paste. You can use mint instead of Parsley.

Everyone Loves Miso Soup

2007-09-12T09:11:00.000+10:00

I have not been posting for some time since the last post I made, thanks to all the assignments and pressure from my courses. Well, thanks to the 15th day of the Lunar Calender, which I usually would take the dinner's responsibility for that particular day. So I made 4 dishes yesterday, quite unusual for 3 eaters, but it was fulfilling. Haha. There are two dishes that I would like to introduce from yesterday, hopefully everyone like it as we did.

Well, everyone likes miso soup, and would probably would know how to make it, 'you only have to chuck in the miso paste! What is so hard?' Haha. To certain extent, I do agree with that, but let's try adding something extra to it, and still maintain (or enhance) the sweetness of the soup.

Ingredients: (serves 2-3)
50g Seaweed (pre-soaked in water until soft)
1/2 White Radish (about 150g) (coarsely chopped)
3pc Soft Tofu (about 250g) (cut into small cubes0
5 big bowls of Water
4 tbsp Miso paste
Salt and Pepper to taste
Dash of Miso Paste, fresh Parsley and some Bonito

Method:

1. In a pot, boil water together with radish, turn to low heat and simmer for about 15-20 minutes. Add miso paste and simmer for another 5 minutes.
2. Add seaweed, turn to high heat and bring to boil, turn to low heat again and simmer for 5-10 minutes. Turn to high heat again when adding the tofu cubes, allow to boil for another 5 minutes or until tofu are cooked. Add salt and pepper to taste.
3. Transfer soup into a bowl, sprinkle with some bonito flakes, add a dash of miso paste (about 1/2 tsp), garnish with some parley leafs. Done.

Note: Add water as required if the radish stalk reduces to much.

The Tofu Bakar I missed...

2007-09-05T11:45:00.000+10:00

It was another day sharing dinner at John's place, and I was really wondering what I should cook. I went to the grocery shop walking around, it was as if I did not know what I wanted to cook, but I actually already have something in mind, in fact I was just walking around trying to find something else that might change my mind, which I have to confess, nothing did! Haha

Anyway, I reckon it is probably due to the fact that I am deeply missing home! (the food especially! XD) Anyway, life has to go on, I saw this dried tofu that was almost like those 'Tauhu Bakar' back home, certainly there's a difference, but "it would do", my little mind whispered that moment. Well check out the recipe, it's not hard, after being twisted by my creativity, I think it does not at all look like the original 'Tauhu Bakar', but again, "it will do, I am fine with it... XD"

Ingredients: (serves 3-4)

500g pre-fried tofu (available at Asian stores)

300g Cucumber (about 3 of it, skinned and finely chopped)

50g Skinned Peanuts (toasted and crushed)

2 tbsp Anchovy Sambal Chili Paste

3 tbsp Dark Soy Sauce

1 tbsp Light Soy Sauce

2 tbsp Sugar

Method:

1. Half the tofu lenghtwise, then further half top and bottom, and diagonally across to form two traingular pieces. Lightly wipe the tofu pieces with some sea salt on each sides, grill for about 5 to 8 minutes on each sides.

2. In a bowl, mix the anchovy sambal paste, sugar, dark and light soy sauce. Heat the mixture in a saucepan and bring to boil.

3. Place the cucumber in the middle of a plate, arrange the tofu pieces around, sprinkle with crushed peanuts and pour sauce over, serve hot preferably. Enjoy!

Note: The original version would be to sandwich the cucumber in between two tofus (the content scooped away before grilled), sprinkled with peanuts and top with the sauce.

A simple dish - Texture or Aroma?

2007-09-04T07:59:00.000+10:00

I shared dinner over my mates place yesterday and I cooked this dish. It was a simple one, but they were wondering what was the main structure of the dish, I wanted to explain to them in detail, but wonder would they understand. But anyway, let's check out the dish first.

Ingredient: (serves 3-4)

1kg Garlic sprouts (soaked and chopped into 2cm pieces)

50g Fried Gluten (soaked until soft and tender)

50g Peanuts (skinned, toasted until crispy)

30g Salted Black Beans (rinsed, drained and set aside)

2 tbsp Vegetable Oil

1 tbsp Sesame Oil

1 tbsp Light Soy Sauce

1 tbsp Black Pepper Powder

2 pc Ginger (finely chopped)

2 cloves Garlic (finely chopped)

Water as needed

Method:

1. In a wok, heat vegetable oil, add in ginger and garlic and fry till aromatic. Stir in garlic sprouts, stir-fry for about 2 minutes.

2. Add in gluten, fry for another 2 minutes, add light soy sauce and continue to stir-fry.

3. Stir in salted black beans, continue to stir-fry, add water bit by bit if the wok is too dry. Stir in the black pepper powder by now, followed by the toasted peanuts, stir-fry for another minute or two.

4. Give the wok a good drizzle of sesame oil right before removing from heat and serving. This is the important part where every ingredient in the wok get a bit of the sesame oil taste, if you think 1tbsp is not enough, add more to get a stronger taste, do not add water after adding the sesame oil, add before if necessary. Serve hot.

Well, if you look at it, there's really nothing hard about the dish, and too simple that there is no main structure some people reckon? Well, the main structure, I say, would be the texture of biting the food. Imagine the crunchiness of the toasted peanuts and the tenderness of the other ingredients in your mouth, it pushes you to bite and crunch a but, but out of it, you get this rich texture of biting...

On the other hand, there is this subtle taste of sesame oil in the ingredients. As you bite, there should be a mouthful taste of sesame oil in it, not forgetting the taste of the ingredients themselves. The latter should be unleashed in a series of biting, after the sesame oil's taste is passed. So, a bit too hard to imagine? Try it yourself! Haha

The Classy Lidnt's

2007-09-02T08:52:00.000+10:00

It has been some time since I posted on some nice places to dine and hang out. But the fact is, I have been around visiting some really nice restaurants, but most of the time the laziness just drives me away from posting them.... =)

However, a visit to Lindt's Cafe at Darling Harbour yesterday really urged me to post it straight away this morning. Thanks very much to fact that this fellow Taylorian senior that came to Sydney from Canberra, we get to visit this wonderful place. The night actually started with a dine out at Takeru's, it's really a good restaurant I reckon. But I will leave that for another day, this post is about Lindt's!

Well, after our dinner, fellow Hong Leong actually suggested to have a coffee or something, to get everyone sat together, and talk and chat a bit in a warmth environment. We actually spent sometime sitting around Darling Harbour waiting for Hong Leong's mates before going there, so time was actually running out as we arrived there about 11pm. (It closes at 12am!)

Goodie! The wait and the walk was worthwhile after all. The cafe was classy and elegant, with all the glossy finishes, advocating it's sense of class and prestige. In contrary to Max Brenner's at Paddington, this is indeed very different! Wondering why there is no picture to compliment what I am talking about? They do not allow it! What a waste! But in a way, hey, come and have a look for yourself! XD

Check out their Hot Choco! Free from Max's funky and 'at the face' attitude! Frankly speaking, all the things here focus more on quality and class, which I think in a way ties them down a bit on the more formal and serious approach in presenting their products. Having said, it does not mean it is on the downside! Seriously, their choco is quite good!

Looks like those drinks you get at the Mamak's back in Malaysia? No it's NOT! You can't call the waitress 'tangachi'! lol Anyway, what you are looking at is Fui Kiat's Iced Choco, he said it is too sweet, not sure about that, I only tried a scoop! Haha. For those who visit there, I do recommend the Iced Choco or Mocha with Ice Cream, or simply the hot choco, the latter is a lot more fun!

Check out Wen Liang's Mocha, the presentation is not bad, thanks to those Barista skills! Again, this is not teh tarik with choco flakes on top!

Now I mentioned about the Hot Choco which is more fun... Hehe I ordered Rich Dark as usual, personal preference! XD Check out the outcome just below!

Tadahhhh! How is it? Not bad I reckon! ^^ Self-taught! Thanks to my visits to Max! Haha the next time, I'll attempt the leaf motif, if I succeed in doing so, they should give me a Barista cert!

Tasting time! Yummy! ^^ Seriously, you cannot compare the Lindt's and Max's. They are way too different, even the quality, aroma and texture of the choco is different. They are both good, in their own way, I reckon. But if you ask around, I think most people still prefer Max, sorry Lindt, no offence! I still like your choc! Haha

The Easiest and Most Expensive Tofu Dish

2007-08-30T18:29:00.000+10:00

It was Bodhinight last Saturday and about 60 over of the UNIBUDS helpers went for the celebration dinner after the event. We ended up in this Chinese restaurant near China Town. We waited some time before everyone came, and when finally when everyone arrived, the dishes started to come as well. The dishes were alright, a dish or two was special in a way, but I was shocked when this tofu dish arrived to the tables from the hands of the waiters. Now, to those who like Chinese food and are reading this post, please, do not go to the restaurants and order this dish and get ripped off! It is simply ridiculous pricing! They charge at least AUSD 8 - AUSD 14 for this dish. If you really want to eat it, make it yourself! It is way much cheaper to make it yourself, and I reckon it will definitely taste a lot better, as outside food are always salty and less healthy comparatively... Anyway, here are the ingredients and the cooking method...

Ingredient: (serves 3-5)

550g fresh Soft Tofu

80g Pickled SzeChuan Mustard Green (those green in colour prepacked ones)

80g Black Chinese Shitake Mushroom (soaked for a few hours pre-use, thinly sliced)

3 tbsp Oyster Sauce

3 tbsp Sesame Oil

1 tbsp Sugar

Method:

1. Slice the tofu into desired sizes and shape, arrange on plate or bowl, steam for 10-12 minutes.

2. In a wok, heat sesame oil, add sugar and oyster sauce, add 2 tbsp of water if too dry, bring to boil over low heat. Pour over steamed tofu. Done. Serve hot or warm.

Note: Another method, just steam the tofu, mix the oyster sauce and sesame oil, omit the sugar, pour on top of the steamed tofu. Another method, mix the oyster sauce, sesame oil and sugar, pour over tofu and steam. All equally simple!

Apparently, it is not hard at all, and I think it taste a lot better than the one at the restaurant! Well, maybe at the downside of it, I do not have a few Chinese Buk Choys around the sides to garnish the dish... =.=

Roasted Sausage and Potato Salad

2007-08-28T08:18:00.000+10:00

I saw this recipe over the newspaper the other day and was tempted to try it, yet I didn't want to spend on the specific ingredients which that dish required, hence I modified it and came out with this. Suits a student budget more I reckon. >.<

Ingredients: (serves 1-2)
2pc Thick Sausages (roughly cut into big chunks)
1 Capsicum (chopped length-wise)
1 Tomato (diced)
1 Stem Celery (rinsed, skinned and coarsely chopped)
3 small Potatoes (skinned and roughly chopped)
2 tbsp Caramel (melted)
1 tbsp Dark Soy Sauce
1 tbsp Black Pepper Powder
1 tbsp Vegetable Oil
1 tsp dried Basil Leaves
1 tsp Lemon Juice
1 clove Garlic (finely chopped)
Salt and Pepper to taste

Method:
1. Boil a pot of water, add in a pinch of salt and pepper, stir in potatoes and let it boil for about 10-15 minutes.
2. Preheat oven to 200 degrees Celsius. Remove potatoes from water, mix well with sausages and capsicum in a roasting bowl or pan, add vegetable oil, basil leaves, lemon juice, and a pinch of salt and pepper. Roast for 10 minutes at 180 degrees Celsius.
3. Remove mixture from oven, give the ingredients a good turn, add in melted caramel, dark soy sauce and garlic. Mix well and roast for another 10 to 15 minutes.
4. Mix tomato and celery. Add pinch of salt and pepper to taste. Remove roasting ingredients from oven, stir together with tomato and celery. Done. Serve hot or cold.

Char Siew Salad? Not quite...

2007-08-26T20:05:00.001+10:00

A few days ago I had this sudden urge to make make something out of the Char Siew Sauce that I bought some time ago and left it there since the first use. After scratching my head for one whole morning, I was still undecided on what to make, should I make Char Siew itself? I love them! But obviously there was no tenderloin meat in the storage, I only had this cutlets of pork armpits, if I remembered correctly, that is. Anyway, to cook the meat only was too plain and dull, I like vegetables and wanted them to go with the meat. Finally, I decided, what could be easier than making a salad? LAZY =)

The ingredients are fairly simple:
2 stems of Celery (thinly chopped)
1 Tomato (diced)
1/2 Carrot (finely sliced)
1 piece of Pork Armpit (about 100g) (cut lengthwise into strips)
1 tbsp Char Siew Sauce
1 tbsp Vegetable Oil
1/2 tbsp Dark Soy Sauce
1/2 tbsp Light Soy Sauce
1 tsp Lemon Juice
pinch of Salt and Pepper

Method:
1. Marinade the pork with char siew sauce, dark soy sauce, light soy sauce, salt and pepper; this should be given about 20-30 minutes at least.

2. Mix the celery, carrot and tomato in bowl, add lemon juice, and salt and pepper to taste. Leave aside.

3. Heat oil in a flat (preferably not-stick) pan or wok. Add in the pork cutlets one by one and saute over low heat. You can tell they are thoroughly cooked when they turn dark brown.

4. Remove the meat from the pan, top or mix with the salad.

5. Add 1/2 cup of water to the remaining sauces in the pan, bring to boil. Dilute some corn starch with cold water and add to the sauce, give it a good stir. Remove from heat and pour over salad mix. Done. Serve hot or cold.

What happened to my muffins?

2007-08-26T17:47:00.000+10:00

Hooray! Bodhi Nite is finally done, as with great success I reckon! It was a full house crowd at Clancy's... Anyway, thanks to so much commitment recently, I haven't been able to post regularly on new dishes, well, not that I attempted much of it though. Haha. Speaking of new attempts, I saw this recipe over the internet during the busiest moments and I was tempted to give it a try, and I did! It should be a simple muffin recipe, but I wonder why it didn't turn out right. I am guessing that I because I added some plain flour, and did not have enough sodium bicarbonate that lead to it... Hmm

So, why am I posting this for? Haha, seriously, I do not know, probably just to show that archicook fails sometimes as well, Haha, in fact quite often! I remember I once told Anna that I should compile all the 'not successful' (let's not say fail) HAha dishes into the blog as well, so here you have it. Haha I'll definitely give this another try, until I get it right!

Orange Chicken

2007-08-19T22:12:00.000+10:00

It was my turn to prepare dinner yesterday and I was reluctant to go out and get extra ingredients for the day's cooking, thanks to the fact that I had a long and tiring day with the choir. Fortunately I manage to dig out an orange and some orange juice from the fridge, hence I decided to give this dish a try, never tried it before, it's my first attempt! Hope everyone likes it!

Ingredients: (serves 2-3)
1 Orange (skinned and peeled)
1 Tomato (coarsely chopped)
400ml Orange Juice
300g Chicken Breast Fillet (sliced lenght wise)
2 cloves Garlic (finely chopped)
1cm Ginger (finely chopped)
1pc Khafir Lime Leaf (thinly sliced)
2 tbsp Vegetable Oil
1 tbsp Light Soy sauce
1 tbsp Soy Bean Paste
1 tsp Dried Basil Leafs
1 tbsp Sugar
1 tsp Salt
1 tsp pepper

Method:
1. Marinade the chicken fillets with 100ml orange juice, ginger, light soy sauce, soy bean paste, dried basil leafs, salt, sugar and pepper for at least 30 minutes.
2. In a wok, heat oil and stir fry garlic until aromatic. Stir in the chicken fillets, stir fry until the meat colour starts to turn white, add in orange juice bit by bit while stir-frying.
3. Add in the peeled orange pieces, fry for another 1 minute before adding tomato and lime leaf at the end, give it a good stir. Done. Serve hot or warm.

Note: If you prefer more succulent meat, use chicken thigh fillet, would taste a juicier and smooth while passing through the throat. Breast meat has a different texture.

Dried Pickled Mustards on Tofu

2007-08-19T21:52:00.000+10:00

It was the 1st day of the Lunar Calender that day and I had this sudden urge to have vegan food for dinner. Hence I rang up my friends and told them I was coming over for dinner, the vegan style that is. It was not until I hang up the phone that I realised that my kitchen had ran out of stock suitable for vegan cooking. Hence I ran to the grocery shop and lingered around for some time to look for something to cook.

After about 15 minutes walking around like someone spying on the shop, I finally decided to make something simple, and economic! Haha, what could be more economic than tofu!? By the way, for those who do not know, tofu is a good source of protein like meat. Thus, here you have it, a simple tofu dish suitable for vegans...

Ingredients: (serves 3-4)

600g Fresh Soft Tofu

200g Dried Pickled Mustard (rinsed for at least an hour or more)

50g Sweet Pickled Radish (thinly sliced or diced)

2 tbsp Light Soy Sauce

1 tbsp Pepper

1 tbsp Vegetable Oil

1 tbsp Salt

Method:

1. Rub 1/2 tbsp salt into the mustard and raddish, mix well and top over tofu.

2. Add on top light soy sauce, pepper and oil. Steam for 10-15 minutes. Done. Serve hot or warm.

At the brink of exploding...

2007-08-18T01:24:00.000+10:00

It is only week 4 of the semester and things seem to be getting out of control. I think this is partially because I am spending a lot of time participating in UNIBUDS activity. Yet, despite being so packed in time, I some how feel that I am happier, partly because I am getting along with a lot of people in UNIBUDS. This is really the first time I understand what people mean by 'ask not what you can get out of things, but ask what you can offer'. By helping out with the activities that UNIBUDS is running, I some how feel my life more colourful and glad that I can offer help to others, this experience is really invaluable...

But anyway, thanks to my extra-curricular commitments and the ever demanding architecture assignments and tasks, I have not been able to update my blog recently, namely for about 1 week, this is something unusual to me as I update the blog quite often. But anyway, hopefully I will come out with some extra time to update my blog a bit and most importantly, some new dishes I reckon! Haha. One thing I would like to share with everyone is this following quote, it's something I never gave up on even I was very busy with all sorts of commitments and demands. I still strive to make good food, whether or not they are new ideas!

"We (Humans) live to eat, and not eat to live!"

Celery and FIsh Flakes with Sambal Sauce

2007-08-12T23:19:00.000+10:00

Ingredients: (serves 3-4)

3 sticks Fresh Celery (rinsed and cut randomly)

350g Bassa Fillet

10g dried Achovies

1 small Spanish Red Onion (chopped randomly)

1 tbsp Pepper

1 tbsp Sea Salt

1 tbsp Vegetable oil

2 tbsp Sambal and Shrimp Sauce

3 tbsp coconut milk

2 cloves Garlic (finely chopped)

2 thin slice Ginger (finely chopped)

Method:

1. Marinate the fish fillets with salt and pepper for at least an hour. Poach in boiling water, remove from hot water, flake the fillets and leave aside.

2. In a heated wok, lightly toast the achovies, stir in ginger and garlic to reduce the 'fishy' smell. Add vegetable oil and stir fry for 1 minute or 2.

3. Add onion into the wok and stir fry until they turn brownish. Stir in sambal paste and add 1/4 cup of water. Bring to boil over low heat. Add coconut milk and bring to boil again.

4. Arrange celery on a plate, top with fish flakes, pour the sambal sauce on top. Done, mix well and serve hot or warm.

Sweet Malt Chicken Strips

2007-08-12T23:01:00.000+10:00

Ingredients: (serves 3-4)
350g Chicken Breast Fillet

2 tbsp Maltose (melt before mixed)

2 tsp Lemon Juice

2 tbsp Sugar

1 tbsp Soy Bean Paste

2 tsp Pepper
1 tsp Salt

1 tsp Dark Soy Sauce

1 tsp Light Soy Sauce

1 Cucumber (finely sliced) (about 75-100g)

1 Carrot (finely sliced) (about 75-100g)

1/2 cup Oil for frying

Method:

1. Cut the chicken breast fillet lenghtwise into about 1cm thick stirps.

2. Marinade the chicken with maltose, light and dark soy sauce, soy bean paste, 1 tsp sugar and 1 tsp pepper. Leave aside for at least one hour.

3. In a bowl, mix carrot and cucumber, stir in lemon juice, salt and the remaining of sugar and pepper. Keep in refrigerator.

4. In a wok, heat oil, parboil chicken in oil until they turn rick brown. Leave on serviette for a few minutes. Then fry again in oil on high heat for 1 or two minutes. Remove from oil, soak remaining oil off chicken with serviette.

5. Arrange hot chicken strips on top of cold salad. Sprinklt with some toasted sesame. Done.

Baked Lemon Fish with Fennel

2007-08-12T13:57:00.001+10:00

Ingredients: (serves 2-3)
1 Fish (about 350g)
2 small Lemons
1/2 Fennel (finely sliced)
2 tbsp Sea Salt
1 tbsp Light Soy Sauce
1 tsp Sweet Paprika
1 tbsp Vegetable Oil.

Method:
1. Score 3 lines on each side of fish with knife. Rub thoroughly with salt. Leave aside for 5-10 minutes.
2. Slice a lemon, lay some on a greased baking tray or aluminium foil, top with some fennel premixed with fennel. Lay fish on top, drizzle with light soy sauce. Top again with remaining fennel and lemon slices.
3. Half another lemon, brush on some salt and oil, some sweet paprika if prefer, place beside fish. Cover with aluminium foil and bake in preheated oven at 200 degrees Celsius for about 35 to 40 minutes.
4. Remove from oven, squeeze lemon juice over fish when serving.

Shreded Tofu with Sweet Peanut Sauce

2007-08-12T13:25:00.000+10:00

Ingredients: (serves 3-4)
600g Hard Tofu (Sliced to about 0.5cm shreds)
2 medium size Carrots (finely chopped)
50g Sweet Pickled Radish (finely chopped)
50g Raw Peanuts (toasted and skinned, crushed)
2 tbsp Sweet Chili Sauce (diluted with 2 tbsp water)
4 tbsp Vegetable Oil
1 tbsp Light Soy Sauce
1/2 tbsp Black Pepper Powder
1/2 tbsp Cinnamon Powder
1/2 tbsp Salt
2 cloves Garlic (finely chopped)
1 cm Ginger (finely chopped)

Method:
1. In a bowl, mix the shredded tofu with Cinnamon powder and salt. Par boil with 2 tbsp vegetable oil in a pre-heated work. Take out when the tofu shreds start to harden and turn yellowish brown. Place on a piece of kitchen towel and leave to cool.
2. Heat 2 tbsp oil in a wok, stir in ginger and garlic and stir-fry until fragrant. Add sweet radish, fry for about 2 minutes, add in shredded carrots, fry for another 1 minute.
3. Add the rest of seasoning and stir-fry for another 2 minute. Add corn-starch solution if the sauce is too watery.
4. Mix in tofu shreds earlier, followed by crushed peanuts. Done. Serve hot or cold.

Welsh Cakes - Relatives of Scones

2007-08-10T10:16:00.000+10:00

It was not too long ago before I made some scones and I had heaps of the ingredients left in the kitchen. Hence, I wanted to make something out of it, and yet want to include some variety in the journal. Thanks to all the browsing through my collection of cookbooks, I finally found a recipe which is quite similar to scones, yet far more easier to make! What could be better! (lazy me XD)

Anyway, I made them, and actually double the recipe myself, but I'm just going to post the original proportions (improvised ofcourse). Well, enjoy!

Ingredients:
100g Self-raising Flour
Pinch of Salt
50g Butter or Margarine
50g Sugar
1 Egg, plus a little milk if required
50g Currants
2.5ml (1/2 tsp) Ground Nutmeg

Method:
1. Sieve the flour and salt. Rub in the butter and stir in sugar, nutmeg and currants. Mix to pastry consistency with egg.
2. Roll out to 6mm thickness and cut with 6mm small pastry cutter.
3. Arrange on large greased pan and bake in preheated oven at 150 degrees Celsius for 5 minutes.
4. Switch oven off for 15 minutes then grease and reheat for another round. Bake for another 5 minutes on turned side.
5. Dredge with caster sugar and serve. Makes 10.

Adapted from Simply Delicious

Cucumber in Vinegar Sauce

2007-08-06T18:46:00.001+10:00

Ingredients: (serves 3-4)
3 Cucumber (about 375g)
15g White Sesame (toasted)
15g Black Sesame (toasted)
5 tbsp Dark Vinegar
2 tbsp Light Soy Sauce
1 1/2 tbsp Sugar
2pc Small Red Chili (the very hot ones! Finely chopped)
1 clove Garlic (crushed and finely chopped)
1 tbsp Vegetable Oil

Method:
1. Thinly slice the cucumbers, the thinner the better. Soak in ice cold water immediately.
2. In a heated wok, add oil, followed by garlic, chili, vinegar, light soy sauce and sugar. Turn to low heat and simmer slowly for a minute or two.
3. Remove cucumber from ice water and arrange on a plate. Pour over with the sauce. Sprinkle with toasted sesame. Done.

Steamed Fish Teochew Style (Revised)

2007-08-06T18:18:00.000+10:00

Finally! I just came back from a few days trip to the New England Tablelands, the 3 days trip was really a a lifetime experience I reckon, prolly I will talk more about the trip in another post when I get my hands on all the pictures taken during the trip. For now, I would just like to share a few dishes with everyone before I get too busy and forget about it...

Well, I know I have already posted once on Teochew style steamed fish, but frankly speaking I was not satisfied that I had to use fish fillets for the dish. This time around, thanks to Foo Loong, I got a couple of fish in a whole! The first thing that came into mind was to make the Teochew style steamed fish again, as I really miss the authentic taste of that dish. This time around, I improvised the ingredients a bit, the result was better I reckon, partly due to the fact that a whole fish is used (this is just me, HaHa).

Ingredients: (serves 3-4)

1 whole Fish (cleaned, washed and tapped dry) (about 500g)

25g SzeChuan Pickled Mustard Green

50g Fresh Soft Tofu (sliced to 1cm thick pieces)

50g Chinese Shitake Mushroom (sliced)

1 Tomato (coarsely sliced)

1 tbsp Tamarind Paste (dissolved in 3-4tbsp hot water)

1 tbsp Light Soy Sauce

2 tbsp Sea Salt

1-2cm Ginger (finely chopped)

1/2 tbsp Sugar

Method:

1. Rinse and wash the fish thoroughly, dry with kitchen towel. Make 3 diagonal cuts on each side of the fish. Rub over with 1 1/2 tbsp sea salt. Leave aside.

2. Mix the tofu, mushroom, pickled mustard green, tamarind juice and ginger, rub over with 1/2 tbsp of sea salt and sugar each.

3. Place the fish on a steaming tray or bowl, place the rest of the ingredients at sides of the fish. Add a dash of light soy sauce.

4. Steam for 15-20 minutes, or until the fish eyes pokes out. Done. Serve hot.