What's for Dinner?

Friday, November 30, 2007

It took me so many hours to prepare our dinner tonight. You never believe me, I started around 2pm! Thank god I managed to cook for Margaret who just had her dinner 10 minutes ago--->yeah, 430pm. Is not funny,k? She has to rush to the bus station and she just can't afford to be late!

Okok. I tried making 煎饼, that's why it took me so long to come online again. My back starts to ache as I stood for too long. Stamina not good...I'll try to post the recipe again tonight, if Ben didn't cling onto me,ok? Oh I love Friday...
*updates*
Dough: 2 rice cups of Plain flour with 2/3 cups of boiling hot water.
Stir quickily with chopsticks then knead until smooth.*hot hot, see my hand red red* Let rest for 30min.
Filling: 1 bowl Minced meat, lots of 葱 but same portion, 1 onion, some garlic, black sause, pepper.--->stir fried, make sure the filling is DRY.
THEN, flaten the dough and spread little oil and salt before adding filling. Roll it up and cut into small pieces. I used my palm to press them hard together before pan fried.

My 煎饼

酸辣汤 - silken tofu, 3 Tbsp of vinegar (black) & 1 Tbsp for white vinegar, 2 Tbsp of sugar, crab meat *Ben's fav*, beaten egg, 香油, salt to taste. Remember to add corn flour starch before beaten egg.

芹菜, fried with leftover meat from 煎饼


Last but not least, my 腐乳蒸鸡, just marinate the chicken with fremented tofu, can get it for $1 plus from NTUC or other supermarkets. Add chili if you like. *all-time fav*

Dinner...yum yum

Wednesday, November 28, 2007

All right, I am back here bloggin' after fightin' with the wok! I didn't cook the soup for tonight, mum did..I should show this to Ben, maybe he will rush home for dinner!

Big Rave : Fried Fish with Our Homemade Sambal

Char Siew Bao 叉烧包

I wanted to make Pao few days back but forgot to buy the Hong Kong Flour so when mum asked me if I wanna go NTUC this morning, straight a way I asked her," Ma, wanna make pao today?"....Follow my style and this is the simpliest way to your very own 叉烧包!

Ingredients for dough:

300 g. Hong Kong flour
60 g. castor sugar
2 teasp. Instant Yeast
2 teasp. double-action Baking Powder
35 g. Shortening
120-150 mls. water

My "anyhow "Fillings:

250 g. Pork Lean Meat (diced)
1 Onion - diced
1 Tbsp. Oyster sauce
2 Tbsp. Soya Sauce
3 Tbsp. Dark Sauce
1 Tbsp. Seafood Sauce
1 tsp. sesame oil
1 1/2 Tbsp. cornflour )

Some Salt & sugar to taste

Basically I just mix everything (for dough) together, excluding the water.
Then I add water and use a pair of chopsticks act as the mixer ---> I am just too lazy to bring our my mixer *faint*
After that I start to knead until I find it smooth and nice to touch-->not stick
Place it in the mixing bowl, cover with damp cloth and let it raise for 30 min. After reading some mails....
Stir fried the marinated diced meat and let it cool. Divide the dough into a few small ball.
Wrap fillings in the small ball, of course you have to make it flat first and seal tightly.
Place onto greaseproof paper and I FORGOT TO leave to proof for another 30 mins. Straight a way I steam over high heat for 10 mins.


Kuih Talam

Saturday, November 24, 2007

The reason for cooking the kuih Talam is because Ben loves them. I forgot to buy the alkaline water so the texture is not very nice but Ben still likes them, I will try to make it again with ALL ingredients, but not any time soon. hehe..Recipe extract from Kuali


For bottom green layer:
(A):
70g rice flour
30g green bean flour
280ml water

(B):
6 pandan leaves cut into 3cm pieces
250ml water
A few drops of green colouring
250g sugar
1/2 tsp alkaline water
For top white layer:
(C):
50g rice flour
1 1/2 tbsp green bean flour
1/2 tsp salt
75ml water
225ml pati santan from 1 coconut

Method:
  • Mix (A) and leave aside to soak for about 10 to 15 minutes.
  • Blend (B) in a liquidiser then strain to get the pandan juice.
  • Mix the pandan juice with (A). Add sugar and colouring.
  • Cook over low heat and stir continuously with a wooden spoon until batter becomes fairly thick and translucent.
  • Pour the hot sticky batter into a greased 20cm cake tin.
  • Smoothen and level the surface with a plastic spatula.
  • Steam over rapidly boiling water for 20 to 30 minutes.
  • To prepare the white layer, mix ingredients (C) together and soak for 10 minutes.
  • Pour the topping layer over the cooked green layer.
  • Steam for about 10 minutes.
  • Cool the kuih well.
  • Slice into small diamond-shaped pieces.

面粉糕

Saturday, November 10, 2007

We call it 面粉糕(mee hoon kueh) in hokkien , selling at most hawker centres and food courts, by PRC. Well, don't ask me why.


The noodles is home made by mum:
-all purpose flour + egg + water, knead it and set a side
-fried the anchovies 江鱼仔, left it cold
-marinate sliced pork/chicken, stir fried with mushroom.

Boil the water in a pot, tear the dough into pieces using hand, followed by fresh vegetable.

Serve with anchovies, sliced pork/chicken and mushroom.

I know I know, not in details right, because I didn't cook them. Mum did. I'll try to take more photos next time.

Hong Kong Styled Egg Tart

Thursday, November 08, 2007

HaPpY DEePavALi !!!!

I have no idea how the egg tart knows today is Deepavali, the consequences for not listening to mum, it leaked..


Simple ingredients! Mum and I always wanna bake egg tarts, I never wanna reveal how many eggs we wasted when we were trying to bake the portugese egg tarts many years back. Now we are back, to bake simple egg tarts first.hehe.. Extract from All Recipe. I ate one right after I showered Twistie, oh yeah, I didn't get to rest after baking as gege was showing me his messy face.


INGREDIENTS
125 g confectioners' sugar
375 g all-purpose flour
225 g butter
1 egg, beaten
1 dash vanilla extract -->forgot to put



Custard
135 g white sugar
355 ml water
9 eggs, beaten --> I used only 7
1 dash vanilla extract --> forgot to put
235 ml canned evaporated milk


DIRECTIONS
In a medium bowl, mix together the confectioners' sugar and flour.

Mix in butter with a fork until it is in small crumbs.


Stir in the egg and vanilla until the mixture forms a dough.


The texture should be slightly moist.


Add more butter if it is too dry, or more flour, if the dough seems greasy.



I then keep it in the fridge for 1/2 hour.


Shape dough into 1 1/2 inch balls, and press the balls into tart molds so that it covers the bottom, and goes up higher than the sides.



Use 2 fingers to shape the edge into an A shape.-->obviously I didn't do it


Preheat the oven to 450 degrees F (230 degrees C).


Combine the white sugar and water in a medium saucepan, and bring to a boil.


Cook until the sugar is dissolved, remove from heat and cool to room temperature.


Strain the eggs through a sieve, and whisk into the sugar mixture. Stir in the evaporated milk and vanilla.


Strain the filling through a sieve, and fill the tart shells.


Bake for 15 to 20 minutes in the preheated oven, until golden brown, and the filling is puffed up a little bit.


Note:
Whole milk will work as a substitute for evaporated milk

Let's do My Cha Cha

I've improvised the recipe according to our taste. I always love this dessert. Mum used to cook them when we were very young. Today I cook it with mum's help. Later in the evening, Nat and Chris are coming over for dinner together with Cheryl. Try to spot the Pikachu mum made for Cheryl~ Oh yah, Ben is working today, I know I know, is DEEPAVALI, even his fellow indians colleagues are in the office "fighting bugs" but tomorrow will be their day off and Ben is going to be a NANNY to Cheryl.
Ingredients:

300g yam (skinned and cubed)

300g orange sweet potatoes (skinned and cubed)

500mls coconut cream

100 g sugar (according to taste)

15 pcs pandan leaves

Many cups of water


For the coloured dough:

200g Tapioca flour

1/2 to 1 cup boiling waterfood colouring


Methods:

Put tapioca flour in a large mixing bowl.

Pour in boiling water.

Mixed it with a spoon till it is well blended.

Separate the dough into two.

Add in food colouring for one dough.

Knead till dough is smooth.



Cut into bite size and drop them in a pot of boiling water.

Once it floats, it is done.

Set a side and make sure they are in cold water.


In a large pot, add pandan leaves and water.

Bring to boil and then add in sugar.

Once sugar dissolved, add yam, sweet potatoes.


Follow by coconut milk.

Bring to a slight boil and add in coloured dough.

Serve either cold or hot.

Fried Maggie Mee

Monday, November 05, 2007

I was still sick but miss my wok after working so I thought of doing some wokking if I could find 2 packets of maggie mee. Thank god I found them and there we had our maggie mee as dinner. Please don't ask me about the recipe, is merely maggie mee and whatever things I could get from the fridge. Oh, this is Ben all time favourite, you can't go wrong as long as you cook this.

Pineapple Fried Rice

Sunday, November 04, 2007

Yesterday was a boring, lonely Saturday to me and so I decided to ask Ben out for Japanese Dinner and we ended up cursing and swearing that we would not come back to this Japanese Restaurant anymore. Suddenly I felt like eating Thai Pineapple Fried Rice, Ben and I shopped for the stuff and today we have our Pineapple Fried Rice. Ben even used the remaining fruit to make fresh pineapple juice! Oh...I miss Bangkok!

Carrot Cake 萝卜糕



Ben and mummy loves 萝卜糕 so I decided to learn how to make them. I got the recipe from Lily Wai Sek Hong. Simple recipe and very clear intructions. I forgot to buy tung min flour, 腊肠 and mushrooms, so I replaced with 干贝. I fried some for Ben and Margaret prefers to eat it the healthier way.

Ingredients:
500g radish(白萝卜)
15g tung min flour (澄面粉)
150g rice flour (粘米粉)
20g corn starch (太白粉)
500ml water

2 nos. shallots, sliced
40g dried shrimps
1-2 nos. chinese preserved sausages (腊肠)
4 nos. dried mushrooms
2 tbsp oil, for frying
A little oil for greasing

Seasoning;
1 1/2 tsp salt
1 1/2 tsp sugar
1 tsp sesame oil
Pepper, to taste

Method:
-Shred turnip. Set aside.
-Clean and soak both dried shrimps and dried mushrooms until soften.
-Chop dried shrimps slightly.
-Cut mushrooms into small cubes.
-Cut sausages into small cubes.
-Grease a pan with some oil.
-Place tung min flour, rice flour and corn starch in a mixing bowl.
-Pour water into flours and stir well.
-Heat up 2 tbsp of oil in a pan/wok and fry these ingredients by order ,remove and set aside, first the sausages , then the shallots, lastly dried shrimps.
-Without removing the dried shrimps, add in the mushrooms and then the shredded radish.
-Season with the seasoning ingredients.
-Pour the flour mixture into the pan.
-Cook until the mixture thickens.
-Place the thick batter into the greased pan prepared earlier.
-Steam at high fire for 1 hour.Set aside.
-Slice when turnip cake is cool.
-Cake can be served as is or pan fried and best eaten with chilly sauce.

Disney and Sanrio Cut Out Cookies SALES

Saturday, November 03, 2007

I love my cookies cutters and I love the cookies I've baked for everyone... With simple recipe, precious time and lots of TLC, tah tah!!! My lovely 10 cookies in a party bag, best for children's birthday parties!!
Feel free to contact me !