Salted egg prawns

My first attempt using salted eggs yolk to cook a dish.

Here we are, salted eggs prawns ... mother-in-law even requested the recipe from me. She loves this dish and the only flaw is that it's was a bit salty. Hee ..ok, at least I did not waste my effort. I will have to remember to reduce salt in future.

Here's the recipe if you would like to try out :) I did not fully follow the recipe espcially for stir-fry items.

Ingredients:
60 g butter
2 tablespoons cooking oil
3 shallots, peeled and chopped
6-8 birds eye chillies, sliced (reduce .. can be too spicy)
3 sprigs curry leaves
3 salted egg yolks, mashed with a fork
150ml evaporated milk (if u want to be healthier, can use fresh milk)
3 tablespoons water
500g fresh medium sized prawns, deveined, leaving skin intact
½ teaspoon sugar
½ teaspoon salt to taste

Method:
1. Buy fresh prawns, slit the back of the prawn using a sharp knife, devein, wash and drain in a colander. Draining the prawns ensures the dish will not be soggy.
2. Heat butter and oil in a wok, sauté chopped shallots until fragrant.
3. Add in bird's eye chilies, curry leaves and cook for 10 seconds.
4. Add in salted egg yolks and mash further with the back of the ladle.
5. Add in milk, water, sugar and salt to taste. Let it boil for 10 seconds before adding in prawns.
6. Once prawns are cooked and sauce thickens, quickly turn off heat.

Happy cooking !

Chocolate Bananas Cake

Chocolate Bananas Cake just for 1B18 !!!





RECIPE
(This portion of cake can serve as many as 16 people)
2 cups (400 grams) granulated white sugar
1 3/4 cups (245 grams) all-purpose flour (plain flour)
3/4 cup (75 grams) unsweetened cocoa powder (try using the good cocoa. I use Hersley)
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 large eggs
1 cup mashed ripe bananas (about 2 medium sized bananas)
1 cup (240 ml) warm water
1/2 cup (120 ml) milk
1/2 cup (120 ml) corn, safflower or canola oil (or other flavorless oil)
1 1/2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract

Chocolate Ganache Frosting:
8 ounces (227 grams) semisweet or bittersweet chocolate, cut into small pieces ?(I use Hersley too)
3/4 cup (180 ml) heavy whipping cream
1 tablespoon (14 grams) unsalted butter

Chocolate Banana Cake: Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (180 degrees C) and place rack in the center of the oven. Butter, or spray with a non stick vegetable spray, a 9 x 13 inch (23 x 33 cm) pan. Set aside.
In a large bowl whisk together the sugar, flour, cocoa powder, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Set aside.

In another large bowl, whisk together the eggs, mashed bananas, water, milk, oil, and vanilla extract. Add the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients and stir, or whisk, until combined. You will notice that the batter is quite thin. Pour the batter into the prepared pan and bake for about 35 to 40 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center of the cake comes out clean.
Remove from oven and let cool on a wire rack. When completely cooled, frost with the Ganache.

Ganache: Place the chopped chocolate in a medium sized stainless steel, or heatproof bowl. Set aside. Heat the cream and butter in a medium sized saucepan over medium heat (can also be heated in the microwave). Bring just to a boil. Immediately pour the boiling cream over the chocolate and allow to stand for 5 minutes. Stir until smooth. When Ganache has completely cooled, beat until soft and fluffy (I use a wire whisk). Then spread the frosting on top of the cake. (I have garnished it with coloured sugars, coconuts flakes and chopped almond nuts)

Chocolates truffles

Made these chocolate truffles for CK's colleagues.
CK was my tester and he found it very rich and soft ...
However, I got very good review from his colleagues ! Very surprise .. I guess these tiny sweet bites are good for increasing energy level in the office.


I've run out my last bit of cocoa powder ! So have to use other ingredients as coating. (almond nuts, coconut glaze, colourful sugar balls and icing sugar)

Apple Shortcake

BC baked this apple shortcake once and it tasted great.
After doing some housework today, I felt so bored. There were some apples from my mum and suddenly I thought of trying my hands on BC's apple shortcake recipe !

Recipe:
250g (2 cups) plain flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
125g unsalted butter, chilled and chopped
60g (1/4 cup) caster sugar
1 egg, lightly beaten
1 tablespoon cold milk
4 small apples, peeled, quartered and cored
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
2 tablespoons caster sugar, extra
1 tablespoon milk, extra
demerara sugar, to sprinkle (whatever this sugar is, just use some fine sugar)

Preheat the oven to 10 degree celsius. Lightly greased a baking tray and line with baking paper, leaving it hanging over the two long sides.

Sift the flour and baking powder into a large bowl, add the butter and rub with your fingers until the mixture resembles fine breadcrumbs. Stir in the sugar.

Make a well in the centre and add the combined egg and milk. Mix with a flat-bladed knife using a cutting action until the mixture comes together in beads. Gently gather together and lift out onto a lightly floured work surface. Press together into a ball, flatten slightly, cover in plastic wrap and chill for 20-30 minutes.

Halve the dough-keep one half in the refrigerator and roll the other half into an even 20 cm square. Put on the baking tray. Cut the apple quarters into thin slices
and arrange in rows, to form a double layer of apples over the pastry. Sprinkle with the cinnamon and extra caster sugar.

Roll the remaining pastry into a 20cm square and put over the apple. Brush with milk and sprinkle with demerara sugar. Bake for 40-45 mins, or until crisp and golden. Make 9 pieces.



Finished product ! Not too bad but I think there were too little apple slices ! Will try to make this again in future.

I wish I have more help ...

Spending half a day making another round of tarts but I could only managed 7 small boxes !I wish I have more help ... but these were done last Friday ! (I actually took a day leave) And how I wish I could make a box for my friends too !





Bought some CNY stuff for Ah Gu' family as usual. I got them put in the basket and wrapped them up.

Chinese drinks good for cough and reducing phlegm

My mum has boiled this drinks for us (including herself) when we all got bad cough at almost the same time recently.

INGREDIENTS

$1.50 Nan Xin (can request medical hall to crush but need to use within a day or 2)
$1.50 Bei Xin (can request medical hall to crush but need to use within a day or 2)
1 Au Qi Pin
1 yellow skin pear (peel skin, cut into 4 pieces & remove core)
6 bowls of water
METHOD : Boil over medium fire and 1-1.5 hours


"Bei Xin" - can be bought in chinese medicine hall


"Nan Xin"


Au Qi Pin


Any pear that has somewat yellowish skin

Pizza & Radish Cake

Partial Home-made Pizza


Bought the pizza base and cheese from Poon Huat. There is no worries of wastage of food since the expiry date is still some time away. Pizza sauce can be bought from major supermarket (not sure if NTUC carry this item, we bought from some Ah Moh supermarket). Toppings for pizza is up to your choice. Ham, green pepper, bacon, onions etc ... In future, I will make the pizza base. Have goggled for pizza base recipe and it was not difficult at all.


I have tried steaming 2 types of radish cake. They turned out to be quite different ! I prefer this recipe as it's more fragrant.

RECIPE 1 : STEAMED RADISH WITH CHINESE SAUSAGE CAKE
Ingredients
400 g radish (I have replaced 100g with shredded carrots)
100 g shrimps (too overwhelming ... 80g is good enough)
150g chinese preserved belly (chopped) (I didn't add this.. the rest of the ingredients were good enough)
2 stalks of chinese sausages (chopped into small cubes)
1 tablespoon chopped shallots

Batter
300g rice flour
1 tablespoon wheat starch (I did not have this so I replace with corn starch, not sure if this is ok)
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon of caster sugar
800ml water

Seasoning
1.5 teaspoon pepper
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon sesame oil

Method
1. Combine batter ingredients lightly, strain well and keep aside.
2. Prepare filling, heat up 2 tablespoon oil to saute chopped shallots at medium heat until fragrant. Add in dried shrimps, chinese sausages & seasoning, stir briskly until aromatic.
3. Add radish (carrot) shreds into the filling, stir well. The, gradually add in batter, and keep stirring, cook at low heat until thicken. Dish out, pour into 9 inch square steaming tin and level the surface.
4. Steamed in the pre-heated steamer at high heat for 35-40 minutes until cooked through. Remove from heat. (Wait till cool the cut so that the cake would not break apart)

You can keep in fridge for few days after the cake is cool. The cake can be fried with little oil which tasted even better.




This is the other recipe which has less ingredients and more rice flour.

RECIPE 2: RADISH CAKE

Ingredients
Group A
1200ml water
350g sifted rice flour
20g sifted tapico flour (I replaced with corn flour)

Group B
2 teaspoon minced garlic
50g Chinese sausages- chopped
50g dried shrimps
150g radish shredded

Seasoning
1 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoon sugar
2 teaspoon chicken stock grandules
2 teaspoon pepper


Method
1. Grease and line baking tin with greaseproof paper. Combine Ingredients A and mix well.
2. Heat 1 tablespoon oil int he wok. Stir-fry garlic, chinese sausages and dried shrimps till fragrant. Add shredded radish and Seasoning and stir-fried briefly. Add Ingredients A and stir-fry thouroughly. Pour mixture into baking tin and steam over high heat for about 40 minutes. Remove and let cool.

What a day !

We went Poon Huat to buy some stuff for my bakery. There is this sudden desire to make a cake using the cupcake recipe somehow. Oh, my cousin and Meimei will be coming to our house to make another round of cupcakes too. It is more to the fun of gathering together and sharing the recipe.


Trying the recipe on a few layers of thin paper holders. They turned out to be alright. The extra layers of the thin paper holders will be loosen naturally after the baking was done. This time round, I our the mixture into a jar with sprout and it was a breeze to pour them into the cups !


It seems like there was nothing wrong with these cupcakes ? Sigh ... I followed the recipe very closely this time and added the Baking Soda as indicated. Somehow, the cupcake raised loopsided !!! For next week's baking, I will stick to my own style with just baking powder ! Oh, I use a knife to cut across the loop-sided top and covered them with the frosting. I did not have any green colouring. I just mixed the yellow and blue colouring that I have to get this green colour.


This is not the cake that I made with the cupcake recipe. My cupcake recipe cake was ruined !!! The middle part was not baked at all. I was quite disappointed as Amy could do it. I kinda suspected that the round baking pan was too deep, therefore it was not baked well. I went to buy a cheap ready-made cake from a confectionery shop near my MI's house as I do not want to waste the frosting meant for the ruined cake. What a day ! I spent like a few hours doing nothing much at all.

Cupcakes

So inspired by Amy's home-made cupcakes that I have to made some myself first !

This was done in such a hurry that I made some grave mistakes !!


My 3/4 finished products. (need to put in fridge) The muffin is moist and nice. I must take note of the frosting procedure in my next round of baking.


What was underneath the layer of frosting .... next time I must remember to use a jar with sprout to pour the mixture inside the rather small cups. Fast and not so messy.


Cocoa was used. (Left-over from Tiramisu making). First time using Poon Huat's cream cheese imported from Australia. (Verdict: Not too bad) Poon Huat sells this whipped cream too for the frosting.


Cream colouring .... the blue turned out pretty nice but the yellow was rather disappointing. Maybe I should increase the density of the yellow colour in future.

RECIPE
Perfectly Chocolate Cupcakes
(makes 24-27 standard sized cupcakes)
U must refer to this fabulous website --> http://glorioustreats.blogspot.com/2010/04/recipe-perfectly-chocolate-cupcakes.html

2 cups sugar (I only put in 1.5 cups)
1 3/4 cups all purpose flour
3/4 cup unsweetened cocoa (best quality available)
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda (I put in more baking powder instead. Turned out ok)
1 teaspoon salt
2 eggs
1 cup whole milk
1/2 cup vegetable oil
2 teaspoons vanilla extract (best quality available)
1 cup boiling water (I replaced with boiling milk as recommended by Amy)

Directions-
Line muffin tin with paper liners. Heat oven to 350*F.

In a large mixing bowl, stir together sugar, flour, cocoa, baking powder, baking soda and salt.

Add eggs, milk, oil and vanilla. Beat on medium speed for one minute.

Stir in boiling water (the batter will be thin, don't worry, this is right).

Fill liners 2/3 full with batter.

Bake cupcakes for aproximately 22-24 minutes.

Cool completely on wire rack before frosting. (another mistake, never read probably ... I do frosting on rather hot muffin ... so silly lor)

Vanilla Cream Cheese Frosting
½ cup (1 stick/8 Tablespoons) butter, at room temperature
8 oz. cream cheese, at room temperature (about 250 g)
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
4 cups powdered confectioners sugar (I used fine sugar ... a mistake. Must used icing sugar)
1 to 4 Tablespoons heavy cream, heavy whipping cream

Directions:
*Place butter in a large mixing bowl and blend slightly. Add cream cheese and blend until combined, about 30 seconds.
*Add vanilla extract and powdered sugar and blend on low speed until combined. Increase to medium speed and beat until it begins to get fluffy.
*Slowly add the heavy cream, a little bit at a time until desired consistency is met. (Don't add too much if you want the frosting to stay in place when piped on cupcakes.)
*Beat until fluffy, about 1 minute.
*Use at once or keep refrigerated. (This frosting will keep well in the refrigerator for several days, but you may need to re-beat it for the best texture.)

Butter cake

Love this recipe ... cake is light and fluffy ...


Butter Cake Recipe






Ingredients:
2 and 1/3 stick (250g) unsalted butter, at room temperature
7 oz (200g) plain flour/all purpose flour
1 tsp baking powder
7 oz (200g) castor sugar (can reduce to 150g)
4 eggs
½ tsp salt
4 tablespoons fresh milk
1 teaspoon vanilla essence

Method:
1. Preheat oven to 190 deg celsius
2. Lightly grease the pan with some butter.
3. Mix the flour and the baking powder together and sieve. Add in salt and mix well. Set aside.
4. Use an electronic beater to mix butter and sugar until well combined or pale yellow in color. (Note: Sugar has not dissolved yet).
5. Add in the first egg. Beat well after each addition of egg until creamy.
6. Scrape down the sides for even mixing.
7. Add in vanilla essence and mix well.
8. Fold in the flour into the mixture and mix well.
9. Finally, add in the milk. Mix well.
10. Pour the mixture into the greased baking pan. Shake it lightly to distribute cake mixture evenly.
11. Bake until golden brown and cooked, about 40 minutes. Use a cake tester to test if it’s cooked. (For my oven, I think 35 minutes is just nice. 40 minutes will be a little burnt on the surface)
12. Remove it from the oven and let cool on the wire rack for another 5 minutes.


Using the recent square baking pan "bend n bake".... it was fantastic ! It does not stick and the cake could be removed easily. This photo showed "wavy" bottom of the baking pan when I reversed it over the chopping board.

Tiramisu

Have tried this less than 7 steps Tiramisu (from U channel Variety show. I missed this show so have to follow the chinese recipe.


Cannot locate this Mascarpone cheese, have been looking at those packeted type. Finally CK spotted it ...









Wrong demonstration of lining up the finger sponges. The first layer of fingers should be covered with ingredients A first, then repeat the same step for top layer.









Not a nice presentation of Tiramisu. I would be sourcing for a nice baking container soon.









Have forgotten to take a nicer cut piece of tiramisu. This picture was taken hastily while distributing to my colleagues.









RECIPE (translated from Chinese to English)

* No baking is needed.

Ingredients:
A. 500g Mascarpone
A. 6 egg yorks
A. 180g Sugar

B. Sweet Wine (Optional if u do not have)

C. 200g Sponge fingers
C. Coffee (non-sugar type, can be hot coffee)

D. Cocoa powder

Method:
1. Mixed "A" & "B" together. Mix "A" & "B" till all smooth. Set "A" aside when finished mixing.
2. Get ready a suitable container. Dip sponge fingers briefly into the coffee. Do not soak. Line up the container with first layer of sponge fingers. Put in "A" enough to cover first layer of finger sponges. Cover the first layer with cocoa powder.
3. Repeat the same step for 2nd layer.
4. Put inside fridge to chill for 2 hours. (not freezer)

Chewy Cheng's Tiramisu

This is the tiramisu recipe I got from my friend, Cheng Cheng :) Thanks for sharing.

Tiramisu

Sponge Fingers: (can buy ready-ones from supemarket)

4 egg yolks
40 gm. Sugar
3 egg white
80 gm. sugar
120 gm. plain flour

Tiramisu:

2 egg yolks
1 egg
60 gm. sugar
10 gm. gelatine powder or gelatine leaves (soak in cold water)
2 Tbsp. Water (omit water if using gelatine leaves)
250 gm. Mascarpone cheese
200 gm. Whipped Cream
2 Tbsp. Kahlua

coffee syrup:

15 gm. Instant coffee powder (Nescafe)
200 gm. Warm water
2 Tbsp. Kahlua

Method:

(1) For sponge finger: Whisk egg yolks with sugar till fluffy.
(2) Whisk egg white with 80 gm. sugar till stiff. Then fold in egg yolk mixture and flour.
(3) Fill the batter into a piping bag fitted with a plain nozzle. Pipe fingers onto tray and bake at 175C for about 10 mins. or till golden brown.
(4) For tiramisu: Beat egg yolk, egg and sugar over a pot of simmering water. Make sure that pot is not sitting directly onto the water. Use a small pot, the mixing bowl slightly bigger and then sit on the rim of the pot. Whisk till egg yolk is lemoney in colour. Cool to room temperature.
(5) Add in mascarpone cheese and mix lightly. Don't overmix otherwise the cheese will be coarse.
(6) Soak gelatine powder with water and then microwave for about 20- 25 secs.
(7) Fold in whipped cream and kahlua and gelatine mixture.
(8) To assemble: Use a 7" sq. tray. Soak sponge fingers into the coffee syrup, lay a layer into the tray and then top up with some tiramisu filling. Continue the same process till all the sponge fingers and tiramisu are used up. Chill in the refrigerator for at least 3 hours for the gelatine to set.
(9) Sieve cocoa powder on top of the cake and decorate as desired.
(10) Serve chilled.

Oneh Oneh Keledek & Tapioca with coconut sauce Recipe

Recipe of Oneh Oneh Keledek (provided by BC)

INGREDIENTS
1 small sweet potato (aprox 200g)
2 tbs plain flour (50g)
1 tbs tapioca flour (25g)
Green colouring or pandan juice
1 cup grated coconut
Salt to taste
12 pieces of malaka (peanut size)

METHOD

1. Scrub the sweet potato and boil until tender. Drain well.
2. Peel and mash the sweet potato.
3. Add the plain flour and tapioca flour and knead to form a pliable dough.
4. Add the pandan juice/green colouring. Mix well.
5. Divide the mixture into 12 parts. Shape into balls with a piece of gula melaka in the centre of each.
6. Half fill a saucepan with water and bring to the boil.
7. Drop onde-onde one at a time into the boiling water. The onde-onde is cooked when it floats to the surface.
8. Drain well and roll it the grated coconut. (mixed grated coconut with salt first)

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Tapioca with coconut sauce




INGREDIENTS
500g tapioca
1 litre water
100g sugar
2 pandan leaves
100g gula melaka

Coconut sauce
400ml thick coconut milk
100 ml water
2 tbsp sifted rice flour
1/2 tsp salt

METHOD
1. Peel tapioca, cut into chunks and soak in water for 1 hour. Set aside.
2. Bring 1 litre of water to a boil. Add tapioca chunks & pandan leaves and boil till tapioca is soft. Add sugar & gula melaka, sitrring over low heat till mixture becomes syrupy. Set aside tapioca pieces and allow to cool.
3. Combine all coconut sauce ingredients an bring to a boil. Drizzle over tapioca. Serve.

(BC, hope ur mum will enjoy the tapioca)

Carrot Cake

Recipe

Ingredients
1. 150 ml canola (or sunflower) oil
2. 3 eggs
3. 50g sugar
4. 175g self-raising flour
5. 1.5 teaspoon baking powder
6. rind of half orange (grated)
7. 1 teasp ground cinnamon
8. 150g carrots (coarsely grated)
9. 50g walnuts (finely chopped)

CK has eaten the only orange in the house, therefore did not put in he orange rind. (skin) But the cake still turn out ok.
U can grate the carrots even finer. I find the carrot we grated was too coarse.

Method
Put 1,2,3 in mixing bowl - whisk until smooth
Add 4,5,6,7 - whisk until smooth again
Stir in 8, 9
Pour into greased baking tray
Bake in preheated oven (180oC, 20 min)


Recipe courtesy of Dr Hedy Goh

Rock buns again ... second try

Second round of baking rock buns ... to play safe, called BC to check the procedure again. Before coming home, I went to Shop & Safe and bought the SCS butter too.

Kneaded the flour with butter longer and more evenly this time, the dough looks better. The colours looked right too. Am I getting there ?

Hee, yes, indeed they tasted better now. At least, a step closer to my master, BC's rock buns.

Receipe: (Yes, from our secondary school days home economics receipe..thanks to BC)

Cheng Cheng, hope u'll try this receipe in US for your family :)

100g plain flour
1 tsp of baking powder
50g butter (can cut into cubes)
50g sugar (u can reduce sugar if u don't like too sweet)
1/2 eggs (beaten)
Raisins (to your liking)

1. Sift the flour and baking powder.
2. Add in the butter and rub with the flour and baking powder to form a dough
3. Add in the sugar
4. Add in the beaten eggs and mixed well
5. Add in the raisins

Oven can be set at 190 degree Celsius. Baking time is from 15 to 20 minutes.

Cheesecake recipe

So glad that my friends enjoyed my cheesecake. Here's the recipe if you are interested to try out. Decorate in any ways you like with suitable fruits (strawberries, blackberries, peach etc), oreos or simply just leave the way it is. You can even squeeze 2 tea spoons of lemon juice to get that refreshing taste. Most importantly it's the fun of doing it and even more fun when you get to share with your friends and relatives !



Modified Cheesecake Recipe
(Please bake & put in fridge one day before your party. Or at least for 4 hours)

INGREDIENTS
160 grams (or more if u like more biscuits for the base which is yummy) Mc Vitie's digestive biscuits --> You can replaced with oreo (removed the cream between the oreo biscuits)

80g of melted butter

2 packets of Phildelphia cream cheese

2 eggs

150g of sugar

Vanilla essence (optional but will add on to the fragrance of the cheesecake)

1 or 2 table spoons of lemon juice (optional)


METHOD

Notes:
1. Take out creamcheese & butter to let them soften half an hr earlier
2. Pre-heat your oven 160 degree celsius
3. Get ready a container. Use a squarish or round tray if u like. Use sufficient alumimium paper or baking paper to cover the tray. It'll be easier once the cheesecake is baked and you can just pull the cake which rested on the alumimium paper/baking paper up from the tray.


-- Cheesecake Base --
1. Mesh the biscuits into very fine crumbs. Mix with the melted butter and stirred well.
2. Lay and press the melted butter biscuits into a tray and put in the fridge first.

-- Cheesecake --
1. Get ready a big bowl. Mix the cream cheese, eggs, sugar, sour cream &/or vanilla essence using an electric mixer. (till smooth)

2. Mix them well. Bring out the biscuits base from fridge. Pour the mixture onto the biscuit base.

3. Baked for about 45-50 minutes. Afterwhich, let the cheesecake cool for 1 hour before refrigeration.

4. Decorate the cheesecake as u like with fruits or others. If you are using fruits, recommend to garnish only on the day u wanted to eat. The fruits will look fresher.

Happy trying ...