Petai & Prawns in TomYum paste

My all time favorite dish & it is my mom's signature dish. Whenever she cooked this dish, will eat 2 bowls of rice. :p

Easy to prepare. 

Petai & Prawns in tomyum paste. 

Ingredients

400g prawns (deshelled)

1 big onions cut into 8 chuncks

1 big tomato cut into 8 chuncks 

200g packet of petai halved 

2 - 3 tbsp oil 

Preparation steps : 

1. Heat up the oil in the pan / wok. 

2. Add in the prawns, stir occasionally until all the prawns are fully cooked. Dish out & set aside. Keep the juice from the cooked prawns for gravy. 

3. Add a little more oil if there is not enough oil. Add the onions & fry until fragrant. Add the tomyum paste & petai & fry for a few minutes. Add in the tomato, when the tomato turned soft. Add the prawns & it's juice too. 

4. Add a few tbsp of water to get some gravy if too dry. A few good mix & dish out. 

5. Served with steamed white rice. 

Bon appétit !

Babi Pongteh

A traditional peranakan ( Straits Chinese ) pork dish. I have never tried this dish before & my friend, Andrew suggested that I should try. It is an easy to prepare dish & very tasty dish indeed! 

Traditionally it is cooked with potatoes but today I don't have potatoes hence I used white radish instead. 

Babi Pongteh

1 kg pork belly / pork shoulder

6 shallots

6 garlics 

2 tbsp of oil 

1 1/2 tbsp of tao cheo ( bean paste ) 

1 tsp Coriander power 

1 tbsp light soya sauce 

1 1/2 tbsp dark soya sauce

Salt, pepper & sugar to taste

4 pieces of dried mushrooms ( soaked & cut into bite size) 

300g white radish cut into chucks. 

Preparation steps: 

1. Ground / mince garlic & shallots. Alternatively you can just chop it up. 

2. Heat up the pot & add some oil, fry onions & garlic until fragrant. Then add the bean paste & coriander powder. Fry for a little while. 

3. Add the meat, brown them lightly then add all the seasonings. Add mushroom & radish, give a good mix & stir. Add water until it just cover the meat. 

4. Let it simmer until water reduced into a thick sauce & meat is tenderly soft ( I took about 45 mins on slightly below medium heat ). Stir occasionally to prevent burnt. 

5. Served with steamed white rice. 

Bon appétit ! 

Chin's note: 

1. It is a slightly sweet savory dish. Reduced sugar if you like a salty dish. 

Pineapple Tarts as X'mas Gifts

Feeling a bit festive, decided to bake some pineapple tarts for friends before we break for Christmas. 

Baked some pineapple tarts today using the following recipe without the ghee because I ran out of ghee.

http://fromchinshome.blogspot.fr/2015/01/pineapple-tarts-made-with-ghee.html?m=0

Pandan Chiffon

Pandan Chiffon's recipe shared by my youngest aunt. It is my daughter's favourite. According to her it is yummy!!! I baked for 55 minutes to get the slightly tanned edges. 

Video Tutorial for Earl Grey Chiffon: http://youtu.be/mHe7yolzhdI

Pandan Chiffon Recipe

Ingredients : 

Meringue :-

6 egg white

80g caster sugar

1/2 tsp cream of tartar

Yolk mixture :-

6 eggs yolk

100g caster sugar

100g plain flour

50g vegetable oil

50g coconut milk 

1 tbsp pandan extract

Methods :

1. Separate egg white and egg yolk into separate mixing bowl respectively.

2. Add cream of tartar and sugar into egg white, beat until egg white stiff.

3. Add sugar, oil and flour into the egg yolk mixing bowl.  Mix well.

4. Gently & slowly fold the meringue (stiff egg white) into egg yolk in 3 parts.

5. Transfer the mixture into chiffon baking pan and tap 3 times. Do not grease the pan.

6. Bake at 160 degree C preheated oven for 55 minutes.

7. Perform toothpick test. It should come out clean when cake is completely cooked.

8. Remove from oven, immediately tilt chiffon pan upside-down and leave to cool completely

9. Use a sharp knife to slice the edges to un-mould chiffon from pan.

Chin's notes:

1. You need to be calm when making this cake.  I tried many times, if I'm in a hurry it won't turned out nice. 

2. Make sure there is no traces of egg yolk in the egg white.  If egg yolk exist, the egg white won't turn stiff.

3. It is important to fold the meringue gently and slowly into the yolk mixture until all mixture are evenly mixed. 

4. If you prefer a lighter coloured chiffon, you can bake for 45mins or lesser.  Perform toothpick test to ensure cake is cooked. 

5. I don't have a solution for the cracked top yet. Mine always cracked! 

6. You can adjust the sugar to your taste, I have tried 80g on white & 80g on yolk. Still taste as good ;)

Bon appétit

Angie's Aubergine Salad

My friend, Angie, made this very easy dish when I was at her place for lunch. Since then I fell in love with this dish. It can be eaten cold / warm. A very easy to prepare dish, just by adding the ingredients to your taste. 

If you like peppery dishes, I think this could be the dish for you. :) 

Ingredients: 

2 large aubergines / egg plants 

2 cloves of garlics ( minced )

2 stalks of spring onions ( thinly sliced )

2 tsp sesame oil / lard 

Lots of white pepper to taste 

Salt to taste 

2 tsp light soya sauce 

Preparation Steps: 

1. Gently poke or cut the skin of the aubergines. Bake in a preheated oven at 200 degree C for 20 - 30 mins or until it turned soft. 

2. Remove & leave to slightly cool to touch then remove flesh from skin. 

3. In a large bowl, add all ingredients & mixed well. 

Voilà ! 

Chin's notes:

1. Somehow white pepper & aubergines goes very well together. 

2. Angie's uses lard, I will use lard when I have them otherwise I replaced with sesame oil.

3. Aubergines after baked. They turned soft. 

Fried Chicken Wings

I'm not sure exactly what ingredients to use for marinating the chicken wings. So I added a little of this & a little of that, marinated for a 4 hours then I deep fried them. They turned out yum! I supposed anything that is deep fried will be yummy! :)

Ingredients: 

Chicken wings cleaned & divided the sections. 

Cumin powder

Coriander powder

Salt 

Pepper 

Fish sauce 

Oil deep fying

Preparation steps:

1. In a big bowl, add all the ingredients & mix well. Leave it for at least 1 hour or overnight. 

2. In a pan, bring the oil to hot & ready for deep frying. Deep fried the chicken wings until golden brown. 

3. Dish out & drained the access oil. 

Bon appétit ! 

Italian Meringue Macarons

My kids loved macarons, I don't mind eating them, BUT I'm reluctant to make them because they takes a while to prepare. 

I had tried many times & this batch is the most successful batch that I'd achieved.

I'm glad that my friend, Cindy shared her lovely recipe with me.

Ingredients for almond mixture:
125g ground almonds
125g icing sugar
46g egg whites
food colouring

Ingredients for Italian Meringue:
125g sugar
31g water
46g egg whites

Preparation Steps for macaron shells:

1) Blend ground almonds & powdered sugar in food processor until fine and sift into a bowl. Add egg whites & food colouring to mix into a paste.
2) Start whisking the egg whites in the mixer and mix until until frosty. Meanwhile, bring sugar and water to boil until it reached 118 degree C. Start whisking the egg white and pour the hot sugar syrup slowly ( from the side ) into the egg white and continue to whisk until it is stiff peak & shiny.
3) Carefully fold the meringue into the egg white paste a little at a time gently. Fold the mixture until it flows down smoothly and form ribbons and transfer into a piping bag.
4) Pipe the mixture onto parchment paper or silicone mat. Tap the baking tray lightly to remove air bubble. Let it rest for half to one hour depending on temperature in different countries. Once it forms a "skin" on top of the shell, it is ready to bake in pre-heated oven of 150 degree celsius for 12-14 minutes. Let cool before removing from baking tray.

Ingredients for buttercream fillings:

1/2 cup salted butter soften

2 cups icing sugar

1/8 tsp of vanilla extract

Preparation Steps:
1) Beat the butter follow by sugar & vanilla essence. Add preferred flavouring into the mixture.
2) Put in a piping bag and store in fridge until it is ready to be piped onto the macarons.

Voilà! 

Chin's notes: 

1. Heat control & the waiting time for the "skin" to develop is important. My 2nd bacth right after the first was not successful because I did not wait for the "skin" to develop.