Winter Solstice

Winter has officially step in....and today is Winter Solstice day - wishing everyone here all well and good, healthy and properous ahead ;-)

This year i had it hand-made unlike the previous years i had bought them from the asian store in town....not a bad try afterall ^.^ For preparation click this link http://mummyrecipes.blogspot.com/2005/12/ah-bow-leng-tang-yuan.html

Swiss Roll with blue berry jam

Ingredients

3 eggs
2 drops of vanilla essence
100 g sugar
75 g flour
2-3 tbsp jam (your choice)

Method

1. Preheat oven 210 d.c. or gas mark no. 6.

2. Grease and line a swiss roll tin with cooking paper.

3. Whisk eggs, vanilla essence and sugar with electric mixer on high speed until mixture resembles a thick stable form.

4. Gently fold the flour in with large metal spoon.

5. Pour mixture into prepared tin and smooth out to the corners with a pallet knife. Bake for 8-10 minutes. It is cooked if your hand leaves a slight mark which appears quickly and springs back.

6. Turn out immediately onto a cake rack cover with a clean cooking paper.

7. Peel off the cooking paper and allow to cool.

8. Spread the sponge lightly with jam and roll spiral with the aid of the cooking paper. Slice and serve with your favourite tea or coffee.

Fresh from forest

Preparing actually very simple! No rinsing required, cut and discard the stalks. Sliced mushrooms into pieces onto a pan. Heat over medium heat with lid cover. About 5 minutes, remove cover and you'll see water in the pan. Lower heat and leave pan uncover. Stir fry alittle till water almost dry up. Add some oil, and lightly stir to let mushroom get coated with oil. Sprinkle with minced ginger and some chopped coriander. Off fire and serve immediately.

Lactarire Delicieux (Catalon)

Chanterelle en entonnaire

For this 2nd mushroom, same preparation. As when the water dries up, add oil and lightly fry the mushroom. Pour over beaten eggs and let it set.

Tarte de Pruneaux or Prune Tart

Was at a french's friends house, and they make this prune tart for tea-break for all of us..however my tart turned up to be abit dried, hubby said fine as long edible..;S

I had with me, 2 packets of pitted prune - halved it mixed with a packet of vanilla sugar. Place it on the ready-made pate (cripsy type skin) and put to bake at 180 degrees for 40 minutes, or till the crust has brown..

Cut into 8 parts, serve warm or cold..voila, bon appetit :))

Hot pot of Vermicelli Soup

Missing bee hoon soup?? Voila, a hot pot of vermicelli soup in a hot sunday afternoon...oh mind, felt my sweat pouring...haha, enjoy and cheers ^^

Cheesecake

Ingredients

(recipe has been halved)



360 g kraft philadelphia (cream cheese)

4 eggs

1 tsp vanilla essence

10 pcs of orea cookies

30 g melted butter

150 g sugar

1/2 lemon (30 mls)



Method



1. Pound orea cookies until like paste, pour in the melted butter.



2. Mix together and pressed firmly into a 4" round tin tray.



3. Put in the fridge while working on the rest.



4. Use mixer or manual, cream cheese and sugar.



5. Add in 1 egg at a time (blend well before adding the next).



6. Add in vanilla essence and lemon juice.



7. Take tin out from fridge adn pour mixture over it.



8. Put on the lower half of the oven, and bake at 170 degrees for about an hour. (if cake still shaky, reduce temp to 150 degrees and bake for another 15-30 minutes till lightly brown).

9. Cool cake before taking it out from tray and put in the fridge (for best result).

voila enjoy..

Tomato puree beancurd

Tomatoes season! my garden fill with ripen tomatoes..gave some to neighbours and kept some for cooking..almost every dish is tomato 0.0

Since the tomatoes are so ripe, i simply juz cut them into smaller chunks and cook it (easily meshed) i added firm beancurd and preserved green olives, abit of salt and lemon juice. Voila the dish is ready for serving..kind of sourish ;))

Asia 2011 - Hong Kong 香港

My month long trip to Asia actually started in mid-April.  I meant to post sooner but have just been busy...:D.  Better late then never right?  Here it is, first stop Hong Kong!

A few pictures of the cityscape highrises everywhere:

This picture was taken of from my hotel room.  We stayed at Harbor Plaza Resort City in Tin Shui Wai.  The hotel was nice but it was a bit out of the way....about 45 mins from anything.  So...we hopped on a Taxi to Ya Ma Tei for dim sum.... which was amazing!  Especially the Ma Lai Koh; so soft, and chewy with the right sweetness, and richness....

After Dim Sum we strolled around to explore the city (I was actually looking for Shanghai Street, which Florence mentioned to me, for buying kitchen stuff....Thanks Florence!).   We bumped into Tin Hau temple.  Of course, I had to stop by to pay my respects... 

Day 2:  of course more dim sum for breakfast; and then it was off to Aberdeen fishing village.

The famous Jumbo restaurant...Did not get a chance to eat there.   Although I would have liked to stop by for a meal; I assume most of their costumers are tourist....and well, tourist food isn't always the best food....

New building starting to pop up, right on the shores of the fishing village (what's left of it).  Apparently, the government is trying to reclaim the village (fill it with dirt to build more buildings).  Most of the villagers have moved on.  The 'traditional fishing village' is actually more like a bunch of small boat filled with tourist....sailing around witnessing the change that is happening.  I'm sad to say it's not much of a fishing village or any village...

Our tour dropped us off at a Jewelry Factory.   Yes...we went in knowing it's a tourist trap and yes, the prices are probably going to be much much higher then elsewhere...but we were already there.  The best you can do is not buy anything....right?  Right....just go in take a look and not buy anything.  So much for that!   The pendant you see above, modeled by yours truly originally cost $1600.   It's a luck Feng Shui pendent, it's a fan with a diamond in the middle. The blades of the fan represent good health, peace, happiness, and fortune.  The fan spins with movement (from walking) and makes a sound like a money counting machine. All of this is supposed to bring good luck to the wearer....  How cool is that!?!?  But for how much?  My mom got a smaller one, the price for that was supposed to be $250.  I told them $888 (luck number lol) for both..... and after about an hour of haggling they finally sold it for my asking price...more then half of their original price....  I'm positive the still made a profit...or else why would they sell it?  Although, I'm a pastry chef...I know I over paid....seriously, the diamond is in the middle is so small you can hardly see it, and there's not much gold/platinum in it...but hey! You only live once, and it's not like I go to Hong Kong everyday....at least that's what I telling myself.

Our tour continued into the City...a few pictures of the many high rise buildings in Hong Kong

Day 3:  Lantau Island/Po Lin Monastery

Our Vegetarian lunch....roasted pork, stir fried veggies with prawns, tofu, spicy mustard soup.  Delish!

We actually set out to the temple at around 11am.  I was warm and sunny at the base of the island but as soon as we got to the top/temple it was dark and raining....as you can see from the pictures above.  When I say rain I really mean RAIN!  Water was pouring down as if god was dumping buckets upon buckets of water down to earth.  The staircase leading to the giant Buddha statue became a waterfall.  I wanted to take a picture but it was raining so hard I was afraid to get my camera out.  Afterwards, due to the rain, everyone decided to leave.  Unfortunately, due to safety concerns the cable cars that take people to and from the temple does not run when the weather is bad.   So...a ton of people were waiting in line in the rain, for the storm to end and the cable cars to work again.  Our tour guide tried to call a taxi to bring us down but were all "booked"....he called again and told them we were willing to pay an extra $40 and what do you know!  The taxi came in 5 mins. 

A few pictures of the Buddha statue that I was able to snap during the brief moments that the rain stopped...  It was such a beautiful place, I only wish the rain came happened....  I guess it was just not meant to be.

What's for dinner?  Roast goose of course!  Hong Kong is know for Dim Sum and roast goose.  My mom always told me how she remembered my Grandpa/her dad brought a roast goose home from his visit to Hong Kong. She remembers it vividly how it was still warm (Hong Kong is just a 2 hour fight from Vietnam), and juicy, and meat being fragrant and the skin melting in her mouth; savoring every bite as they had the goose for dinner that day.   With so many places to eat how do you know who's the best.   Luckly, Jacky the executive chef of Wild Ginger (where I work) is a native of Hong Kong.  He suggested Yung Kee.  So Yung Kee it is.....

Their roast goose was amazing, the meat was juicy and marinated just right with a hint of sesame oil which I think they drizzled onto the duck just before serving.    Although the sesame was detectable it was in now way overpowering, only adding to the goose making it every so memorable.  Besides their roast goose, they also make their own century old eggs served with pickled ginger.   The egg was made very well!  Not a hint of ammonia, very mild creamy yolk with a transparent chewy 'white'.   Yum!

Hong Kong has so much to explore an taste.  I was only able to scratch the surface during my short visit and hope to one day stop by again.   Wherever you decide to eat the food is always delicious, seriously.....always delicious....

Glutinous rice

Tried cooking glutinous rice before but never seem to get the right texture of the rice..however after learning from my friend, i have finally get the best recipe for this dish...



1. Soak the rice for at least 4 hours, drained and marinate it with mushroom sauce 1 tbsp of light soya sauce pepper and sesame oil..



2. Prepare a bowl with water some sugar and mushroom sauce and stir well. Leave aside. (2 cups of rice to a bowl of water - need some estimation on this)



3. On the other hand soak some dried mushroom either whole or already shredded. Pan fry the mushrooms with 1 tbsp light soya sauce, dash of sesame oil and generous pepper. Dish up and place on the steaming tray.



4. Next heat up the pan, saute with some ginger slices and pour the marinated rice and fry. Ladle about 2 scoops of the prepared water sauce and fry to almost dry and repeat till finish.



5. Off fire, transfer the rice onto the steaming tray with mushroom (laid on the base) and levelled it. Put to steamer and steam about 30-45 minutes or till the rice is cooked.



6. Remove from steamer and inverted the rice on a serving plate. Serve hot or cold.

Simple Snacking

Anytime snacking, easy to make as long u have bread eggs sugar..i remembered my mom used to fry this snack whenever there are too many going to expire bread at home..;p

In this recipe i have used up 3 slices of white bread (without crust) 1 egg and 3 tsp sugar. Beat egg with sugar adding some water. Dip the bread with egg mixture and pan fry both sides over medium heat. Repeat until the ingredients finish..voila :-)

Crepes or pancake

Ingredients
(make about 15 pcs)

150 g plain flour
250 ml milk
100 ml water
1 egg
60 g sugar

Method

Mixed all ingredients together. Sieve through to get a smooth batter. Heat and oil a 22 cm anti-adhesive pan. Scoop into a soup ladle and spread the batter round the pan. Fry both sides over a medium low heat, making sure not to burn the crepes. Serve hot or cold.

note if you prefer the crepes to go with your favourite nuteller or cheese, do not add sugar into this recipe.

Spinach Olive Congee

Baked Aubergine

Trying out this recette - in this dish i added olive oil, romarin herbs some salt and pepper and put to bake till cooked..need to be improved further :))

Cornflakes & Cranberry Cookies

Ingredients

250g butter
1 egg yolk
310g Self raising flour
150g sugar
1 tsp vanilla essence
Crushed cornflakes (depend how crunchy you want)
1 pkt cranberries (100-120g)

Method

1. Cream sugar and butter. Add vanilla essence and yolk.

2. Sieve flour and blend well. Add crushed cornflakes and cranberries. Mix well.

3. Spoon into about 50 cts coin size (no need to flatten).

4. Put into a preheated oven on the lower half shelf and bake for 20 minutes.

5. Leave to cool before storage.

Vegetable Quiche

Ingredients

potatoes - scrubbed and slice into very thin disks
1 1/2 tbsp olive oil
salt and pepper to taste
1 small red bell pepper, chopped
1/2 cup frozen spinach, thawed and drained of all liquid
1/2 cup sliced mushrooms (canned)
5 or 6 cherry tomatoes, cut into halves
1/2 cup cheese shredded
2 eggs
3/4 cup milk

Method

1. Preheat oven to 220 degrees. Layer the sliced potatoes in an even layer in the bottom of a pie plate or quiche pan, overlapping the edges a bit. Brush with olive oil then sprinkle with salt and pepper. Reduce temperature to 200 degrees.

2. Bake for 20 minutes, or until the potatoes are cooked through and slightly crisp.

3. In a large bowl, combine the red pepper, spinach, mushroom and cheese. Spread mixture in an even layer into the potato crust, then place the tomatoes cut side down on top of the vegetables.

4. In another large bowl, combine eggs milk salt and pepper. Whisk until totally combined. Pour over the vegetables. Top with additional black pepper, if desire. Bake for 30-40 minutes, or until a knife inserted in the center comes out clean.

5. Let cool for at least 10 minutes before slicing.

http://www.singforyoursupperblog.com/wp271/wp-content/uploads/2011/01/potatoquiche2.jpg

Macaroni Assam soup

Basically just macaroni cooked in mee siam paste ;p

Gnocchi Soup

Lazy days to cook...bou gnocchi (mesh potato and plain flour) off shelf and cook it like some noodle with soup..

'Yin Yang' fried rice

Interesting?? basically is juz curry taste on one..and the other plain with light soya sauce and pepper :-)

Pak Tong Kou (Steamed White Cake)

Ingredients

280 g rice flour
280 g sugar
600 ml water
3 pandan leaves, knotted (optional)
1 tsp dried yeast
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tbsp cooking oil

Method

1. Add 300 ml water to the rice flour and mix well.

2. Boil sugar with 300 ml water, salt and pandan leaves. When boiling, pour syrup into the rice flour mixture. Stir well and strain, leave aside to cool.

3. Dissolve 1 tsp yeast in 2 tbsp lukewarm water and add to cooled rice mixture. Stir well, cover and leave to leaven for 11/2 to 2 hours till small tiny bubbles appear.

4. Grease and preheat a 30 cm round tray in steamer.

5. Add 1/2 tbsp oil to leavened mixture, stir well and pour into heated tray. Steam for 20 minutes.

6. Remove and cool, cut and serve.

p.s cut down the sugar content the next attempt if this amount too sweet.

Simplified Putu Mayam

Recently a friend gave me this oranged colour sugar, and immediately it reminded me of this indian snack...i remembered i saw this recette when browsing thru my friend's blog, it was a pity i didnt have the wanted sugar. And today i tot give it a try...hm, overall not too bad except the blanched bee hoon turned up abit wet..the next time i will try another step that is to steam it to make the texture even soften and perhaps lesser water....cheers, here is the recipe http://crystalbyblog.blogspot.com/2007/10/simplified-putu-mayam.html

Have fun :-)

Simplified 'Penang' Assam Laksa

Suddenly had in mind this recette i tried years back when i was an adolescent. The first time i had this it was like yucks! What a weird local delicacies, still preferred the nonya style laksa with coconut milk savory. However today i wish to give it a try to prepare it, omitting the 'hay ko' simply prawn paste. I surfed the internet, the soup base is make up of some fish and cook with shallots and balacan. Perhaps mine style could taste abit blend since i don have much ingredients choices plus this is a vegetarian blog...juz having fun experiementing, cheers :) Garnishing 1 cucumber cut into strips 1 pineapple (canned if can't get fresh) cut into strips green chillies few twigs of peppermint leaves 1-2 stalks of lemon grass cut into rings Soup base ~ i used laksa paste to replace the spices and cook with tamarind paste (sieve thru), season with salt and sugar. Instead of rice vermicelli i replaced it with spaghetti noodles. In a serving bowl, add in the noodles and garnishes all the vegetables on top. Ladle some assam laksa soup over and serve immediately.

Kueh Dadah

I did this recette many years back during my home economics 2nd year ~ got the recipe from a friend quite some times ago ~ and today i decided to give it a try again ~ it isnt very difficult afterall, maybe juz the twirling of the pan ~ perhaps need some practices ~

Ingredients (makes about 12 wraps depending on sizes)

Fillings

150 g coconut flakes

100 g gula melaka (palm sugar)

150 ml water

Chop the sugar into small pieces. Melt under low fire and bring to boil. Add in the flakes and cook till dry or semi dry.

Skin

250 ml milk

150 g plain flour

1 egg 100 ml water

pandan paste

Add all ingredients together and mix well. You find some lumps from the plain flour, sieve through and set aside. Grease a pan, scoop the batter onto the center of the pan and twirling it round to get a good spread. When the wrap is set gently flip it over to lightly fry the other side. Remove from pan and repeat till the batter finish. Take a wrap spoon some fillings to the center, fold up both sides and slowly roll up the skin.

Voila, happy snacking :)