Kok-chai or mini peanut puff

Can't remembered when was the last time I had these.

Saw Lucinda Lau from Baking's Corner posted the recipe below & decided to give it a try .. They were time consuming but it is worth it all cos they are yummy!!! The pastry texture are nice & crispy. 

Recipe from Lucinda Lau from Baking's Corner 

Kok-chai - mini puffs recipe 

Ingredients : 

Dough - 

300g Plain flour ( sifted ) 

1/2 bowl / 125g cooking oil

1/2 bowl of water 

Peanuts Fillings - 

300g Peanuts ( cooked & finely pounded) 

100g sugar 

30g sesame seeds toasted 

Methods : 

1. Prepare the peanuts fillings & set aside. It can be done a few days before. 

2. Prepare the dough. Put all the flour in the mixing bowl. Make a well & add the oil. Combine the flour & the oil to form a dough. 

3. Slowly add in the water & knead to form a smooth & soft dough. Do not add in all the water at once. Add in half, knead and add a little water when needed until the dough is smooth & soft.

4. Divide your dough, about 5g each ( or lesser), make a ball & flatten with rolling pin. Put the peanut fillings in the middle then seal the edges gently, pinch & fold to get the lace prints on the edges. 

5. Deep fry until they are golden brown & cook. 

Chin's notes :

1. You can replace the peanuts fillings with sambal dried shrimps / heah bee hiam. 

2. Make them as small as you can. Mine is a bit big. 

3. Here is a video as a reference to folding the edges. ( added on 04/01/2015)

http://youtu.be/4bvSWxY1AVU

Easy Vanilla Cupcakes

Vanilla Cupcakes with Sugar Glacé & Fondant

All time favourite, vanilla cupcakes. Playing with sugar glacé & fondant, got the cute rose idea from the web & wanted to try it out. It was not that difficult to make.

Video tutorial for vanilla cupcakes:

http://youtu.be/EsgqxMxuF7o

Vanilla Cupcakes

Easy Vanilla Cupcakes Recipe :

Make 12 cupcakes. 

Ingredients :

115g self raising flour 

115g sugar 

115g butter at rm temperature 

2 eggs

1 tsp vanilla essence

Method :

1. Cream butter & sugar, then adds eggs & vanilla & finally flour. 

2. Line the baking tray with cupcake liners. 

3. Fill each liner 2/3 full with batter. 

4. Baked in preheated oven at 180C for 15 - 20 mins. 

5. Perform the toothpick test. It should come out clean when cake is cooked. 

6. Let it cool completely before you add decoration on the cupcakes. 

Bon appétit !! 

Chin's notes: 

1. Can sprinkle chocolate & nuts toppings on the batter & bake. 

2. If you do not like vanilla, you can remove the vanilla, then it will be come a butter cake.

3. Other decorating ideas your cupcakes.

Video tutorial for sugar glacé:

http://youtu.be/xCOXwOhlDQs

Sugar Glacé with M&Ms

Decorated with Fondant

Japanese Cottony Cheesecake

I yet to master this recipe.. My first attempt. Baked 2 cakes in a single session.  One successful looking cake but the other not so slightly....

Here is the recipe, there are many people who tried this recipe successfully!! I'm determine one day I can bake beautiful Japanese cottony cheesecake! 😉

http://ieatishootipost.sg/japanese-cheesecake-recipe-almost-everything-need-know/

Thick Corn Soup

A Simple & easy to make soup, I love thick soup but I just found out that my kids do not like thick soup. Hmmm..

Here is the recipe the soup & hope you like them. 

Serve 5 

Ingredients :

200g minced pork / chicken meat.

1 tbsp of oyster sauce 

1 tbsp of shaoxing cooking wine

100g of corns - I used canned corns

1 large egg lightly beaten

1" ginger - thinly sliced

2 clove of garlic - chopped 

2 tbsp of cooking oil

Light soya sauce to taste

Pepper to taste

3-4 tbsp of corn flour mix with some water for thickening the soup. 

Preparation Steps : 

1. Marinate the meat, with oyster sauce, shaoxing wine & set aside while you prepare the rest of the ingredients. 

2. Heat up the wok, add in the cooking oil. Fry the garlic & ginger until they are fragrant.

3. Add in the meat & fry until they are almost cooked. Add in the 5 bowls (about 1L) of water. Add in the corns, soya sauce & bring to boil.

4. Stirring the soup while you pour in the corn flour mixture. You have to stir otherwise you'll get lots of starch lumps in your soup. 

5. Turn off the flame, hold your eggs high & pour in the egg. Swirl around the wok of soup. 

6. Serve hot, garnish with spring onions & with a dash of pepper! 

Chin's notes: 

1. Use lesser corn flour if you do not like very thick soup. My soup bowl is about 200ml of water. 

2. Careful when you pour in the corn flour mixture, remember to keep stirring the soup while you pour in corn flour mixture to prevent starch lumps.

3. Can be served with black vinegar if you like vinegar. But I prefer them as it is with some pepper. 

Bon appétit ! 

Pineapple tarts

All time favourite.  Been wanting to try out this recipe for a long time & I have finally made them.

It has the melting effects but not buttery enough. 

I used a cookies/fondant cutter (pink tool below) to emboss the prints on the pineapple balls. 

Here is the link to recipe from NasiLemak Lover blog: 

http://nasilemaklover.blogspot.fr/2013/02/my-best-melt-in-mouth-pineapple-tarts.html?m=1

My homemade pineapple jam with brown sugar: 

Flower Egg Soup

An easy dish, when I needed a quick soup to go with my meals.

Serve 5

Ingredients

200g chicken meat cut into bite size 

10 - 12 medium size prawns, cleaned.

2 big tomatoes cut into chuncks

1" ginger thinly sliced

2 garlic - chopped. 

1 tbsp oyster sauce 

1 tbsp Huatiao cooking wine.

Pepper to taste

5 bowls of water 

3 eggs - beaten

1 - 2 tbsp of cooking oil for frying. 

Light soya sauce to taste. 

Methods :

1. Marinate chicken with oyster sauce, cooking wine & pepper before you start preparing the other ingredients. 

2. Heat up wok, add in the oil. When is all heated, add in the garlic & ginger, fry until fragrant. 

3. Add in the chicken, fry until almost cooked. Add in the tomatoes. Fry a little until you see signs of tomatoes skin peeling.

4. Add in the prawns & water. Bring to boil. Add in light soya sauce. 

5. Turn off the flame. Hold the beaten eggs high & pour thinly, swirl around the soup.

6. Serve hot with spring onions. 

Bon appétit !! 

Chin's notes :

1. I find that when the tomatoes are cooked ( skin peeling ), the soup taste better. 

2. This recipe is also ideal for thick soup. If you like thick soup, you can add 4 - 5 tbsp ( depending on the amount of water you have prepared) of corn flour mixed with some water.  Add to the soup ( in step 4) before you swirl in the eggs. 

Jiao zi ( 饺子 ）- Chinese Dumplings

Jiao zi (饺子）- Chinese dumplings. These dumplings were prepared with Chinese chives. A special dipping sauce made from ginger, spring onions, chili, black vinegar & some sesame oil. 

Pan fried dumplings

Each time when I prepare these dumplings,  I'll think of my schooling days in Sydney & my working days in Miri, Sarawak.  When I was in Sydney, I'm blessed with wonderful Chinese meals prepared by my friend, Josephine Chan's mom.  In Miri, my friend ChiewHa will prepare these for me!  Yum!! 

Thank you ChiewHa for showing me how to make these lovely dumplings when I was working in Miri, Sarawak.

Here is a video tutorial : l

http://youtu.be/yabqIuZeuc0

Dumpling recipe : 

20 - 25 sheets of dumpling skins.

Filling : 

200g minced meat 

2 tbsp / 3 garlic - minced / finely chopped

2 tbsp / 2" ginger - minced / finely chopped 

10  water chestnuts - cut into small pieces / chop finely 

3 Chinese dried mushrooms , soaked & cut into small pieces. 

50g / 10 stalks Chinese chives - cut thinly

2 tbsp oyster sauce

1 tbsp corn flour

1/4 tsp pepper 

Salt to taste ( optional ) 

Dipping sauce : 

Ginger thinly sliced 

Spring onions thinly sliced

Chili thinly sliced 

Sesame oil 

Black vinegar 

Methods : 

1. Mixed all the filing ingredients in a big bowl, mix well & set aside for 30 mins. 

2. Wrap the dumplings. Refer to tutorial video. 

3. There are 2 ways to cook your dumplings 

Method 1 - Pan Fried 

    Heat up the pan with some oil ( not too much ) over medium flame. 

    Lay the dumpling on the pan, cover with the lid for a few minutes.  Add some water ( 3 tbsp) & quickly put the lid on for a few more minutes. Turn the dumplings to get the other side of the dumpling nice browning. 

Method 2 - Boiling Water

    Boil a pot of water with some oil.  When water reach boiling point, add in the dumplings. Dumplings will float to the surface when they are fully cooked. 

4. Dish out & serve with dipping sauce. 

Boiled dumplings

Dipping sauce : 

Prepare in a small bowl, add in the ginger, chili, spring onions, black vinegar & sesame oil to your preference.  I prefer the black vinegar in the picture.

Chin's notes : 

1. Found an interesting video, 8 ways of folding the dumplings 

http://youtu.be/HK3iG2LyWnY

Zebra Cake Finally!!!

Finally after a few failed attempts to get the zebra prints on my cake.  The lines are more visible. This time round I just used a normal butter cake recipe with added buttermilk & cocoa powder.

If you are using non stick pan. I'll suggest you line with a piece of baking paper, to prevent the batter from spreading too fast. I think this could be the reason that caused my failure previously. 

Alternate the batter to get the prints : 

Alternating batter to fill up the baking pan

Here is the basic butter cake recipe : 

8" baking pan. 

Ingredients :

5 eggs 

250g butter 

250g self raising flour

250g sugar 

1 tsp vanilla extract / essence 

60ml buttermilk

20g cocoa powder 

Methods : 

1. Prepare buttermilk : 60ml of fresh milk & 1 tbsp of lemon juice. Leave for 10 minutes. Make this before you start measuring the ingredients for the cake. 

2. Cream butter & sugar until creamy.

3. Add egg one at a time into batter. Mix well. 

4. Add in the vanilla essence then add in buttermilk to the batter. 

5. Divide the batter equally into 2 portions  into 2 mixing bowls.

6. Add cocoa powder to one of the batter, mix well. 

7. Grease & line the baking pan. I only add a piece of baking paper on my non-stick pan. 

8. Spoon 1 tbsp plain batter in the middle of the pan, then add 1 tbsp of cocoa batter onto the plain batter. Keep alternating both batters until you finished both batters. 

9. Bake in a preheated oven at 175 degree C for 45mins or until cooked. Perform the toothpick test, toothpick should come out clean when cake is fully cooked. 

10. Leave on the cooling rack to cool. 

Chin's notes :

1. You can also make these into cupcakes. Baked in preheated oven at 180 degrees C for 20 mins or until cook. 

2. If you like coffee, you can add a sachet of instant coffee mix to the cocoa batter. 
3. Previously failed to get the visible prints with a different recipe. Here is a link Owl cake ?

Bon appétit !

Made 6 cupcakes with the same batter

Same concept, alternate the batter to fill up the liners

Rempah ikan / Spicy fish

This one of my favourite childhood dish & today it is still a favourite dish. A popular dish from the Penang Straits Chinese Cuisine.

Hope you'll like this fish as much as I do. 

A video tutorial :

http://youtu.be/xkGHRyPsFEM

Rempah Ikan ( Spicy fish ) A Penang Straits Chinese Cuisine from my late granny. 

Ingredients : 

10 medium / good size kembong / kuning ( yellow tail)  ( sorry I don't know the English name for kembong )

30 dried chillies soaked till soft

10 small shallots 

1" belacan - pan fried till fragrant

2 - 3 pieces of kaffir leaves - thinly sliced / finely chopped

2 tbsp of water to get juice from 1 tbsp tamarind pulp. 

1 tbsp sugar  - can add more if u like. 

Salt for seasoning 

Method.

1. Clean fish & slit the back of the fish, on both side between the big bone. Pat dry.  Seasoned with a bit of salt. 

2. Pound / blend dried chillies with shallots & belacan.

3. Mixed well with sugar, tamarind juice & kaffir leaves. 

4. Stuffed into the back of the fish & tummy. 

5. Pan fried with just enough oil to  coat one side of the fish. Fried till slightly burnt on the side to get the crispy ends. Flip & cook the other side. Till both side nicely fried.  I like my fish slightly burnt. 

6. Squeeze a bit of lime juice before serving ( optional )

Chin's notes: 

1. You may get a lot of burnt bits in the oil. 

2. Fish can be bony to some. 

3. I have never tried with fillet 

4. It is a also a great dish for BBQ, wrap the fish in banana leave & BBQ over low heat. 

5. I personally prefer pounded chillies. 

Bon appétit !

Brussel Sprouts with dried shrimps

An easy to prepare dish Asian dish. 

Ingredients :

20g dried shrimps wash & dried

300g Brussels sprouts 

2 clove garlic - minced / thinly sliced

1" ginger - thinly sliced 

2 tbsp oyster sauce 

1 tbsp huatiow / shaoxing cooking wine

1/4 tsp of sugar

20ml of water

1 tbsp cooking oil

Methods :

1. Clean & cut each Brussels sprouts into 4 quarters.

2. Heat oil in wok, fry garlic & ginger until fragrant. 

3. Add in the dried shrimps & fry until fragrant, then add in the Brussels sprouts. Give a few good stir.

4. Add in the oyster & stir until oyster sauce is well coated on the veggies then add in some water & cooking wine. 

5. Put the lid onto the wok & let it cook for a few minutes. 

6. Sprinkle with some sugar & dish out.

7. Serve with steamed rice. 

Bon appétit !! 

Owl cake ?

I'm supposed to make a zebra cake, & I have not get the technique right.  But this is a wonderful butter cake recipe.

Adapted from Zebra Cake from Singapore Home Cooks (SHC) by Jenny Lim. 

Ingredients: (9 inch round pan)

230g salted butter, softened at room temperature

200g sugar

4 egg eggs 

1 tsp vanilla extract

200g self raising flour, sifted 

60ml milk 

10g cocoa powder

Method:

1. Line the base & grease the sides of the baking pan.

2. Cream butter and sugar until pale and fluffy. Add in vanilla extract & milk and beat for a while. 

3. Add in egg one at a time and beat well after each addition.

4. Add in flour, in 2 additions, mix them well into the batter.

5.  Divide the mixture into 2 equal portions, add cocoa powder to one of the portion and mix well. Set both aside.

Note: If you just want Mabel, pour the plain batter then the chocolate batter in the middle & stir with a chopsticks. Skip step 6. 

6.  To get the Zebra like prints : Using a tablespoon, scoop 1 tablespoon of the original batter into the centre of the  pan. Then scoop 1 tablespoon of cocoa batter on top of the centre of the original batter. Alternate the 2 batters until done.

7.  Bake at 180 deg C in a preheated oven for 45 minutes  or until skewer  comes out clean.  Reduce the temperature if the top turns brown too fast or start to  crack.

Chin's notes:

12th Oct 2014: I managed to get the visible prints on my cake using a different recipe, here is a link to the recipe : Zebra Cake Finally!!!

Bon appétit! 

Mini Egg Cake

This is one of the first few recipes that I tried since I started my baking adventure in Jan 2014.  An easy recipe & the cakes taste yummy! My kids loves them.. 

Recipe from Rasa Malaysia : 

http://rasamalaysia.com/mini-egg-cake-recipe/2/

Here is a video tutorial from Fun at Sassy's Kitchen http://youtu.be/RHmj8ZxD50A

Bon appétit !! 

Deep Fried Tomyum Chicken

Trying out a new dish today, surprisingly the combination turned out quite well. I marinated the chicken overnight. Deep fried them the next day.

The chicken taste yummy!!! They were tender & has a tangy tomyum spices. It is not very spicy but I will try to add some chili flakes / powder in the future. 

Deep fried tomyum chicken recipe :

Ingredients :

4 chicken drumsticks

1 tbsp of tomyum paste. I used HollyFarms Original Tomyum Koong

2 pieces kafir lime leaves - finely sliced 

1 lemongrass - thinly chopped 

1 egg 

Chili powder / flakes to taste ( optional )

1 tbsp corn flour

Oil for deep frying 

Methods :

1. Clean chicken & pat dry.

2. Marinate chicken with tomyum paste, kafir lime leaves, lemongrass, egg & chilli flakes.  Best to marinate them overnight or at least 3 hours.

3. Coat chicken with corn flour before frying. 

4. Heat up oil & deep fried chicken until cook. 

Bon appétit !! 

A picture of the tomyam paste that I used.

Homemade Popcorns

Salted Homemade Popcorns

Popcorns has always been a favourite. They are easy to make & fun to watch when the kernels pops!!! 

Here is a tutorial video: 

http://youtu.be/8mbe3X-drJs

Homemade Popcorns Recipe

Ingredients : 

4 tbsp of cooking oil

1 cup of corn kernels 

Some salt

Method : 

1. Heat oil in a pot.

2. Add the kernels to the hot oil & cover with a lid.

3. Listens to the popping sounds. When frequency reduced, turn off the flame. 

4. Spinkle with some salt on to popcorns before serving.

Bon appétit !

Banana Pancakes

Lazy Sunday, saw a posting from Singapore Home Cooks (SHC) today & tempted me to try Banana Pancakes with the ingredients that I have in my kitchen. Found 1 banana available, phew!!

Banana pancakes recipe adapted from SHC by Rita Choo.

Ingredients : 

1 ripe banana mashed 

1 cup of plain flour 

1 cup of milk 

1 egg 

30g of melted butter or 2 tbsp of cooking oil

2 tsp of baking powder 

Dressing: 

Honey & whipped cream

Methods : 

1. Mix all the ingredients in a mixing bowl & leave for 30 minutes

2. Heat up small round pan with some butter. Low to medium flame. 

3. Pour in 1 small ladle full of batter on the heated pan. Use a pancake mould if you like. 

4. Turn over after a few minutes & flip & cook the other side for a few minutes. 

5. Serve with whipped cream & honey / maple syrup.

Chin's notes : 

1. Original recipe asked for self raising flour , oil , sugar & salt. 

2. I used pancake / egg mould to shape the pancakes. 

Used pancake mould to shape the pancakes

Bon appétit! 

Pandan Swiss Rolls with cheddar cheese

Pandan Cheese Swiss Roll

It is our favourite & I will always bought from the Bengawan Solo cake shop in Singapore. My first attempt to make this favourite. Feeling accomplished!! 

Pandan Cheese Swiss Roll recipe 

Ingredients :

For Meringue - 

4 egg whites 

20g sugar 

For yolk batter : 

4 yolk

70g plain flour

30g sugar

35g coconut milk 

25g vegetable oil 

1 tbsp of pandan extract / essence 

Fresh cream whipped 

Shredded cheddar cheese

Methods :

1. Prepare the Swiss roll baking tray & line with baking paper. 

2. Separate the egg yolks & egg whites in separate mixing bowls. 

3. Add sugar, coconut milk, oil, pandan essence to the yolks. Mix well. 

4. Beat egg white & sugar untill it stiff peak. 

5. Gently & slowly fold the meringue into the yolk batter in 3 parts. 

6. Pour into the baking tary & spread the batter evenly. 

7. Tap a few times to release trapped air bubbles. 

8. Baked at 180deg C in a preheated oven for 20 mins. 

9. After cake is cooked remove from oven  & leave to cool, spread the whipped cream & sprinkle the shredded cheese on the surface & gently roll it up. Keep it wrapped tightly & leave in the fridge for at least 1 hr before cutting. 

Bon appétit !