Retrenchee

Buttermilk Mini Donuts

2011-08-28T18:20:00.000+08:00

I have been trying out various donuts recipes & decided that this is the best. I think it’s because of the use of buttermilk, which makes d donuts ‘proof’ very nicely. Esp when it’s used with my mini donut-maker machine, heehee..

Ingredients

2 cups bread flour

1½ tsp baking powder

½ tsp baking soda

1 tsp salt

1 egg

1½ cups Buttermilk

1 tbsp maple syrup

½ cup of blueberries + cheese cubes

Mix all together.

Grease donut-maker & heat it up be4 pouring 1 tbsp of batter into each ring.

Add 1-3 blueberries / cheese cubes onto each batter be4 closing d top for baking.

After 2mins, remove from donut-maker & allow cooling for 10mins be4 moving into container.

Best eaten warm!

Steam GreenTea cake

2011-06-27T08:04:00.000+08:00

With so many successful tries of the steam chocolate cake from fellow blogger’s post, I decided to give it a variation – green tea flavour.
The end result – color was not what I expected. As for taste, MIL & Hubby likes it but my colleague mentioned too sweet for her… thus, might reduce d amt of sugar next time.
p.s. d only changes I made was to add 1 ½ tbsp green tea powder, & increased d amt of flour to match total amt of dry ingredients.

Photo Pix

2011-04-03T16:20:00.001+08:00

We rec’d these 2 very beautiful artwork from 2 of our very close friends & I would like to showcase their creativeness.

Pix 1 from my little 'sister' from Bangkok

Pix 2 from our close friend
TQ so much for their wishes!

Coconut Jelly

2011-04-02T12:21:00.001+08:00

Saw this recipe from the newspaper & so decided to give it a try.

End result – because I have put in too much cendol, d cendol part of the jelly breaks off very easily. Might not try this again as no-one in the family is interested to eat it...

Chinese TeaLeaves Eggs_茶叶蛋

2011-03-23T07:32:00.005+08:00

Like my friend, fellow blogger (BHH), I love the smell & taste of Chinese tea leaves egg (茶叶蛋 Cha Ye Dan). And when she posted a recipe on how to homemade, I grabbed the chance to try it out. However, since she mentioned that d herbs smell is not strong enough for her, I triple all the herb ingredients.
And d result - Thumbs up!

Hokkaido Milky bread - another version

2011-03-07T07:51:00.003+08:00

Another version of Hokkaido Milky loaf - adding whatever ingredients that I was trying to finish;-p

6g salt
38g Sneaky Chef's Healthy version of flour blend
20 g milk powder
155g self-rising flour
200g bread flour
53 g sugar
1 Egg (abt 60g)
170 g Fresh milk
100 g heavy cream
2 tbsp raw wheat germ
¼ cup raisins
¼ cup of crushed almonds

Put all ingredients into d ABM & select normal cycle with light crust
End result – not as fluffy as d original recipe but good enough with all the goodness in it.

Chrysanthemum Jelly

2011-03-05T19:29:00.005+08:00

My ‘little sister’ from Thailand had this dessert in a restaurant & fell in love with it. When she came back, she requested me to try out & teach her how to make. So here’sd end result served on top of fruit punch.
Ingredients
A handful of chrysanthemum flowers
900ml water
A pkt of konnyaku jelly powder
190g of sugar ( can adj according to yr own taste)

Method
Wash chrysanthemum flowers be4 putting them into the boiling water. Let it boil for another 5-10 min be4 removing from d heat. Do not boil too long or d jelly will turn out bitter...
Remove from heat. Steep covered for another 10 min be4 sieving d tea into a cooking pot.
Add jelly powder & sugar, stirring constantly bringing boil. Ensure both powder & sugar has alrdy dissolved be4 removing from heat.
Pour into moulds to set and let it cool. Chill before serving.

Super good on a hot sunny day!

Purple Passion fruit jelly

2011-02-06T12:00:00.004+08:00

With so many left-over purple passion fruit, I decided to use them up for jelly.

Very refreshing! MIL loves it & ate half of it over 2 days!

Sour Plum AgarAgar Jelly

2011-01-29T14:03:00.003+08:00

With so much agar agar powder on hand, I decided to give some of BH’s recipes a try. All ingredients d same with d excepation of the Konnyakau powder which I replaced with agar agar powder.

End result - MIL mentioned that I shd have used Konnyakau powder instead but my purpose was to used up whatever’s on hand & not get new ingredients.
Hubby preferred d Ribena jelly that I made for Hayden’s birthday party (which I forgotten to take pic).

Steam chocolate cake & brownies

2011-01-28T13:58:00.001+08:00

Using recipes from BH’s blog, these are what I made for Hayden’s birthday party at d childcare. Not much but at least I made all of this myself... Hopefully 1 day, he’ll appreciate the amt of sleep I lost doing this for him…

Steam chocolate cake & brownies

Steam moist chocolate cake

2011-01-16T22:14:00.001+08:00

Hayden’s birthday coming up & I decided to try out BH’s tested recipe – steam chocolate cake for his class party. For testing purpose, I halved all the ingredients & d pix reflected d result…

Colleagues LOVED it! All mentioned that it’s moist enough for them. & so, so easy to prepare!

SourCream loaf

2010-12-19T22:30:00.004+08:00

Finally, I found time to try out a new recipe from Bakespace. However, I added some bal Gelatinized Dough (烫种面团) in order to utilize whatever that’s left from previous baking. End result was ok because it’s soft enough to make some sandwiches out of it, but still not as soft as d Hokkaido loaf.

½ cup low-fat milk
1/3 cup sour cream
1 large egg
1 tbsp butter, softened
3 cups bread flour
3 tbsp sugar
5g / 1 tsp salt
2 tsp yeast
60g Gelatinized Dough (烫种面团)

Put all d ingredients into my ABM & select basic white loaf setting

Buttersquash Loaf

2010-08-10T17:39:00.003+08:00

I found out abt Happy Flour’s blog thru BH’s blog & have alrdy tried few of her recipes. However, not every one turns out ok.

So here’s 1 that turn out really, really soft & fluffy - sweet potato crown bread.

Overnight Sponge Dough: (yield about 150g)
100g bread flour
60g water (room temperature)
1/4tsp instant yeast

1. Mix yeast with water until well blended.
2. Add in flour & knead to form dough.
3. Cover & set aside to prove for 30mins.
4. After 30mins, keep it in d fridge to rest overnight or up to 48hrs.

Bread Dough:
(A)
300g bread flour
40g sugar
3g salt
1 1/2tsp instant yeast

(B)
140g water
30g egg

(C)
60g overnight sponge dough

(D)
120g sweet potato (steamed and mashed) (I replaced with buttersquash)
30g butter

(E)
100g golden raisins

Being lazy me, I just put all d ingredients into my ABM & select basic white loaf setting.

Miso Clam Soup

2010-06-04T23:11:00.006+08:00

After d 1st try-out using clam as soup base, I starting searching d web for more clam broth recipe & decided to try this recipe out. Hubby & Hayden loves it!

2 dozen clams, scrubbed
1½ tbsp Miso paste
2 tube egg tofu, cut into 1/2 -inch cubes
1 med scallions, thinly sliced crosswise

Rinse d clams at least 3 times to rid d sand/grit. Fill a pot with just enough water to cover d clams be4 bringing it to boil. Off d heat & remove d meat for later usage, discard d shells.
Pour d clam broth through a strainer into a bigger pot. Add more water to make up 1.8l & whisk in d miso until smooth. Bring soup to a simmer over moderate heat. Add tofu & cook for 4mins.
Return clams to soup to heat through. Sprinkle the scallions on top and serve immediately.

Sneaky Chef's Fried Rice

2010-06-02T22:12:00.005+08:00

Was trying to lower the utility cost for d household so am trying not to use the slow cooker too often. And with my recent new part-time job, am running out of new ideas/recipe for dinner. So for tonite, I was browsing through my recipe ‘book’ (actually it’s the notes that I have on my iphone), I saw this recipe from Sneaky Chef’s book that I have never try be4. Even though I don’t have some of the ingredients, I decided to go ahead & substitute with whatever I have in d fridge. Hayden helped with the scrambled egg & because he helped, he actually mgd to finished his bowl of rice. Guess that shd give this recipe a thumbs up???

1 large egg
¼ cup white puree (subs w/green puree)
*whisk to2g be4 scrambling it with ½ tbsp oil
½ small onion, minced/puree
1 cloves garlic, minced
1 tsp fresh ginger, minced
1 cup cooked ckn/ham/beef/pork/shrimp (subs w/3ckn hotdogs)
2 cups cooked rice, cold
½ tbsp soy sauce
½ cup peas (subs w/thawed mixed veg)

Heat 1 tbsp oil & stir-fry minced onion/garlic/ginger for abt 2mins
Add meat & stir-fry another 2mins
Add rice & soy sauce. Toss to combine well
Add scrambled egg & veg only 1 min be4 finish cooking.

Green Puree – Serve 2 cup (I usually freeze them in batches of ¼ cup)
2 cup raw baby spinach leaves
2 cup broccoli florets + 1 cup sweet green peas
* steam broccoli for abt 10mins; add peas @ d last 2mins
** or microwave broccoli in a bowl covered with water on high for 8-10mins; add peas @ d last 2mins

Pulse spinach 1st, then add broccoli/peas & puree with 1-2tbsp water till smooth.
Can be freeze for up to 3mths
Can be added into beefy soups or stew

Waterchestnut Carrot Soup

2010-05-31T21:34:00.004+08:00

I have tried quite a few water chestnut soup recipes & this is just another simplified version. Very suitable for d recent weird weather.

10 cups water
12 water chestnut
8 red dates, stoned
1 big or 2 med carrots
500g lean pork (subs with black ckn)

Simmer for 2-3hrs

Light Mac & Cheese pasta

2010-05-26T21:31:00.004+08:00

This is another Sneaky Chef’s recipe. Very easy & fun to prepare. In fact, it’s so easy, Hayden help made this dish.
End result – a very cheesy dish, definitely a kid’s fav!

1½cup evaporated skim milk
¼cup white puree
113g white cheddar
2 tbsp Parmesan cheese
1 tbsp unsalted butter
½tsp honey mustard (I omitted this)

*Cook all over low heat.
Then add 4 cups of cooked elbows/small pasta & stir to combine well. Serve hot.

Teriyaki Veg/Mushroom

2010-05-13T21:50:00.001+08:00

Another lazy day, didn’t really want to try anything new so I used a tested recipe with new ingredients.

End result – a very tasty veg dish served on top of rice. Very nice..

2 tbsp olive oil + 200g fresh veg + 200g fresh Shiitake
1/3 cup teriyaki sauce + 1/3 cup white puree + 1 tbsp honey (whisk to2g)
4 green onions, sliced
Heat oil over med heat & sauté shiitake/onion for abt 3mins.
Add sauce mixture & veg, cook for abt 2mns or till onion is cooked.
Serve over rice.

Chayote, Corn, Mushroom in Clam broth

2010-04-16T22:34:00.009+08:00

Chayote, Corn, Mushroom in Clam broth (佛手瓜, 玉米, 蘑菇, 蛤肉汤)
I saw this recipe from BH’s blog & went ahead to give it a try. It’s actually quite a mild flavor soup. MIL likes it but hubby finds it too plain. So on my next try, I actually added fresh clams & what a big diff it made! Hubby loves it! In fact, his words were “ yr soup had definitely improved by a GAINT step!” Wow!

So here’s my modified version.

20-25 fresh clams (soak them in salt water 2-3hrs be4 use)
500 pork ribs
200g agrocybe aegerita (茶树菇)
1 large chayote
2 fresh corns (I normally used only d kernels)
1.5 - 2 litre of water

Trim away the ends of d agrocybe aegerita be4 washing & soaking them in water.
Wash & cut d chayotes into cubes, pluck out d kernels from d corn after washing.
Blanch pork ribs/lean meat.
Rinse d clams at least 3 times to rid d sand/grit. Fill a pot with just enough water to cover d clams be4 bringing it to boil. Off d heat & remove d meat for later usage, discard d shells.
Pour d clam broth through a strainer into a bigger pot.Add more water to make up 1.8l.
Add all ingredients in it & bring to boil. Once boil, switch to med heat & continue boiling for 30 min. Then reduce to small flame & simmer for 2 hrs.
No salt is needed as d clam broth is tasty enough.

Sweet & Tangy Ckn

2010-04-07T22:13:00.004+08:00

I can’t remember where I got this recipe from, so, if any of u can remember, do advise me so that I can credit it back to d originator.
Hubby finds it bit too sweet for him but both MIL & Hayden likes it.

Ingredients (serve 4)

1 ½ cup barbeque sauce
½ can pineapple chunks + juices
1 green bell pepper, chopped
1 onion, chopped
1 cloves garlic, minced
4 skinless, chicken thighs

In a large bowl, mix barbecue sauce, pineapple with juice, green bell pepper, onion, & garlic. Arrange 2 of d ckn thighs in d bottom of a slow cooker. Pour half of the barbecue sauce over it. Place remaining ckn into slow cooker, & pour remaining sauce over d top. Cover & cook on Low for 8-9 hrs

Clever Ckn Teriyaki_Sneaky Chef's

2010-04-05T22:39:00.001+08:00

As mentioned in my earlier post that am into Sneaky Chef’s cookbook recently. Most of Sneaky Chef’s recipes r all quite easy, except that, u will need to pre-prepare 1 of the ingredients 1st. It is d ‘secret (healthy)’ ingredient that usually requires pre-preparation using d blender. But since they can be freeze up to 3mths, it’s ideal to prepare lots of it @ 1 go & pop it into d freeze till requires. For this recipe, I used d white puree which was prepared ytd.

End result – a very tasty & healthy dish.

White puree

2 cups cauliflower florets – steam abt 10mins
2 small zucchini – peeled & chopped
1 tsp lemon juice

Pulse zucchini & lemon juice 1st, while steaming d cauliflower. Then add d cooked cauliflower & puree till smooth. Add 1-2 tbsp of water if required.
U can also add raw yellow squash along with d cauliflower to be pureed. Just peel & remove d seeds of d squash.

Clever Ckn Teriyaki
2 tbsp olive oil + 450g ckn tenders
1/3 cup teriyaki sauce + 1/3 cup white puree + 1 tbsp honey (whisk to2g)
4 green onions, sliced

Heat oil over med heat & sauté ckn for abt 5mins.
Add sauce mixture & onions, cook for abt 2mns or till onion is cooked.
Serve over rice.

Healthy version of Jaime Oliver's basic bread recipe

2010-04-05T21:32:00.003+08:00

I have been trying out lots of recipes from famous chef & recently, am into Sneaky Chef. Basically, all her recipes have ‘secret (healthy)’ ingredients that most children hate to eat. But she manages to ‘hide’ them well enough that children don’t know they r eating something healthy. There’s this 1 sneaky method that I really like – healthy version of flour blend. She used this for most of her pancakes & muffin recipes. I like d idea of Hayden eating wheat germ & whole wheat so I gave it a try by using this healthy flour blend for his wkend donuts. Hayden took 4 mini donuts that day! I was really happy abt it so I decided to try more recipes using this healthy version of flour blend. Well, sad to said but out of the 7 times I tried incorporate this flour blend into some of d bread recipes, I had to throw away 6 uneatable loaves. And d 1 loaf that was eatable, Hubby said it’s too dry for him.

So, it’s not always that easy but I really didn’t want to just give up like that so I decided to give it another go using Jamie Olive’s basic bread recipe. I hope that by just starting at d basic, I might just be able to figure out what really is needed to make this healthy version bread a success. Therefore, I made modifications along d process as I watch d bread maker knead d dough. And when Hubby tried d end result, it was considered a success! Phew!
So here’s d recipe for anyone who wants to give it a go.

Sneaky Chef's Healthy version of flour blend

1 cup of All-purpose flour
1 cup of whole wheat flour
1 cup of wheat germ

Mix all together for later usage. It can also be kept in d fridge for up to 3mths.

Jamie Oliver’s basic bread recipe (modified)

4 cup bread flour
3 ½ cup Healthy flour blend
3 tbsp (30g) yeast
2 tbsp honey or 30g sugar
110ml warm milk + 400ml tepid water
26g salt

Put all into d bread maker & select basic cycle for 1kg load. Check after 5mins & add 2-3 tbsp of water if dough is too dry. But from past (failure) tries, less water is needed if using wheat germ so try not to pour all d water in so fast.

Beadings

2010-03-25T23:08:00.008+08:00

Recently a friend of mine is into bead rings & that re-knead my past interest in breading. Few yrs back, I was asked to help out in my co’s charity event to make beads accessories. It was fun back then & we grp ard making lanyard & hp accessories. So now, out came all my left-over beads from back then, & along with some books borrowed from d local library, am ready to try out my long-forgotten skills in beading again.
Here’s what I mgd to figure out within 9hrs (btw 3days) with my limited beading knowledge.
Not too bad for someone who has not done a bead ring be4. ^_^

this is what they called a Angelina ring

This one is called Flora
These 2 r called 5 Petals

Chicken Broth - Jamie Oliver's

2010-03-23T21:56:00.004+08:00

Have been making my own ckn broth & this time, I decided to give Jamie Oliver’s version a try.
End result – so much tastier than my old version. I cant believe adding herbs & a rasher of bacon can made so much diff!

1.5kg ckn
2 carrots
2 sticks celery
1 rasher of smoked bacon
2-3 sprigs of fresh Rosemary
Handful of shitake mushrooms
Port of sea salt
Olive oil

Put ckn, carrot, celery & bacon in a pot cover with water. Bring to boil. Low heat & simmer 1¼ hr, skimming white residue off top now & then.
Add Rosemary & mushroom only in d last 10 mins.
Season with salt if desired

Poached Ckn - Jamie Oliver's

2010-03-20T22:10:00.002+08:00

At 1st, I don’t quite understand what ‘poaching’ really meant. Then when I saw this recipe in Jamie Oliver’s book, I went online to have a better understanding of ‘poaching’.
Turn out ‘poaching’ is a process where food is gently simmering in liquid. To me, isn’t this just like cooking in d slow-cooker? So does this means that I have been ‘poaching’ all this while whenever I used d slow-cooker?
End result – very tasty soup esp with d nice smelling fennel.

2kg ckn
Handfull of flat-leaf parsley
4 bay leaves
2 handful new potatoes
2 handful baby carrots
2 handful baby turnips/radishes
1 blub fennel
2 handful peas
2 handful broad beans
1 handful of spinach
1 tsp salt

*stuff herbs into ckn, cover ckn with enough water by abt 1inch. Scatter in potatoes & bring to boil. Cover & simmer 20mins.
Then add carrots, turnips/radishes, & fennel (herby top remove & reserve). Simmer another 30-40mins.
Remove ckn & add peas, beans &spinach. Cook 1 min & serve with ckn, sprinkle fennel top & olive oil.

Coconut Stewed Ckn

2010-03-19T21:52:00.003+08:00

Weather is really heating up! Really need something to cool down! Coconuts! Yes! Had this recipe for d longest time & cant really remember where I got it from. I think it might have be from a Chinese mag.
End result - tasty enough for Hayden to asked for 2nd helping!

1 young coconut
1kg ckn
1 stalk lemongress (cut into section)
6 bowls water
5 slices ginger
1 stalk spring onion
rice wine for taste

cut upper part of young coconut, pour out juice & scoop out flesh
Rinse ckn. scald Ginger, spring onion & rice wine in boiling water. put in ckn, scald for a while. remove & drain.
Put ckn, lemongrass & coconut flesh into coconut, pour in juice & water, bring to boil.
Switch to low heat & stew 3hrs. add seasoning be4 serving.

Banana Honey loaf - Jamie Oliver's

2010-03-18T23:40:00.004+08:00

Since am not allow to feed Hayden d Layered Focaccia loaf, I decided to try out another Jamie Oliver’s recipe – banana honey bread.
End result – bread was not soft enough for me & I cant really taste/smell d bananas at all. Maybe d sizes of d bananas were not correct. I’ll still post d recipe here in case anyone is interested to give it a go.

1 basic bread**
6 banana
8 tbsp runny honey
Handful of almonds (opt)

**30g yeast + 2tbsp honey + 625 ml banana mixture + 1kg strong bread flour + 30g salt

Peel & purée banana. Top up mashed mixture with water to 625ml.
Put basic ingredients binto d bread maker.
Add half d honey w/nuts @ d start of dough making.
Be4 baking, drizzle rest of honey over d dough top to caramelize.
Bake in preheated oven @ 190c 20mins.

Stir-fry Corn - Jamie Oliver's

2010-03-18T21:42:00.004+08:00

Another super easy recipe from Jamie Oliver – Stir-fry corn.
End result – a very, very tasty dish! Thumbs up!

400-500g corn kernels (abt 3 corn)
2 tbsp olive oil
1 tbsp chopped Ginger
1 tsp chopped chili (optional)
Handful chopped parsley
1-2 tbsp soy sauce

Stir-fry them together till cooked, abt 8-10mins

Layered Focaccia loaf - Jamie Oliver's

2010-03-17T22:33:00.002+08:00

Another Jamie Oliver’s recipe – Layered Focaccia
End result – a very cheesy loaf! Hubby find it too salty & advised me not to let Hayden try. So in d end, I had to freeze it up & had it for my BF for 1wk. But I loved it! D herbs really give it a very fresh unique taste. it might not look good (cause I replaced 1cup flour w/raw wheatgrem), but good enough for me.

1 basic bread recipe **
170g parmesan cheese, grated
200g fontina/cheddar, grated
140g mild gorgonzola cheese, crumbled
2 handful rockets
1 handful fresh marjoram, leaves picked
Olive oil

**(30g yeast + 30g honey + 625ml warm water + 1 kg strong bread flour + 30g salt)
Put basic bread ingredients into bread maker & select dough function.
Roll out & fold/tuck rest of d ingredients into d dough after 1st prove.
Rub top with little olive oil & rip over some fresh sage/thyme.
Allow 2nd prove.
Bake in preheated oven @ 180c 25mins.
Let it sit for 25 mins be4 eating.

Bamboo Water Chestnut drink

2010-03-16T18:36:00.002+08:00

Was walking ard d local supermkt when I chanced upon some sugar-cane. That’s when I remembered I have just bought some water-chestnut ytd for soup. But with d weather so hot, some sugar-cane + water-chestnut drink shd be better. & I even mgd to locate a recipe online which is quite similar to my recipe.

15 - 20 water-chestnuts
10-15 sticks palm-length sugar cane
1 branch pandan leaves, washed
100 gram of rock sugar

Remove water-chestnut’s skin, washed & soaked in clean water for 1 hour or longer in order to get rid of d bacteria/micro worms that are hidden inside d flesh.
Scrubbed sugar cane & peel off d skin.
Put all (except rock sugar) into d slow-cooker & simmer for abt 1-2hrs on low heat. Switch off d heat & put in d rock sugar. Allow to dissolve be4 serving it warm or chilled.

Beef Stew - Jamies Oliver's

2010-03-15T22:06:00.001+08:00

This recipe is from 1 of Jamie Oliver’s cookbook. Need I say more, super easy, simple & fuss-free recipe for working mums. Ingredients list might look long but most items can easily be found in any-one’s kitchen, with d only exception of d parsnip. As I was not able to find parsnips this rd, I replace it with corn kennels (which gives a better color to d dish).

Ingredients

Olive oil
1 tbsp unsalted butter
1 onion, peeled & chopped
Handful of fresh sage leaves
800g stewing beef
Some flour to dust
2 parsnips + 4 carrots + 1/2 butternut squash
500g small potatoes
2 tbsp tomato purée
½ btl red wine
285ml veg stock
Zest of 1 lemon
Handful Rosemary, leaves picked
1 clove garlic, finely chopped

Fry onion & sage w/ butter 3-4mins.
Toss meat in flr, add to d pan w/ all veg, purée, wine & stock. Stir together & season. Bring to boil, covered & simmer 3-4hrs till meat is done.
Mix zest, Rosemary & garlic together & sprinkle be4 serving

Asparagus Omelette

2010-03-12T21:21:00.001+08:00

Was @ d local library browsing through some recipes books when I came across this v simple asparagus omelette recipe & decide to give it a try. Problem is – I copied down d recipe but forgotten to incld chef’s name! Thus, if any of u remember or have seen this be4, pls do drop me a comment so that I can credit this back to d correct chef.

End result – both Hayden & MIL had 2nd helping!

Ingredients

2 eggs + ½ cup milk
2tbsp grated Parmesan
200g asparagus

Mix d eggs & milk in a bowl.
Slice asparagus into small bits, leaving only d top part. Then boil them for abt 8mins, or when they turn bright green. Drain & set aside.
Heat up d non-stick pan & spoon in ½ cup egg mixture. Roll it rd d pan to spread out into a thin layer be4 adding asparagus. Sprinkle it over with parmesan & remove from pan.

Cream Cheese loaf, again

2010-03-05T23:41:00.002+08:00

Friend passed me some bal flours to use up & it’s all in small qty. So, I decided to use all for another cream cheese bread attempt.
End result – not too bad an attempt but loaf is not as soft on d 3rd day.

160g water/fresh milk + 1tsp lemon juice
250g flour (25g cake flr, 115g APF,110g bread flr)
60g cream cheese
20g unsalted butter
15g sugar
3g salt
3g yeast

Put all into bread maker on fast loaf cycle. If u prefers soft crust, do not remove from bread maker after cycle ends. Just leave it there overnite

FrogLeg rice w/Lily bulb

2010-03-05T23:10:00.003+08:00

In my previous attempt on d frog legs rice, I bought d wrong ingredient. So for tonite, I mgd to get d right fresh lily bulb鲜百合for testing. However, after reading d instruction on d package, I understand that fresh lily bulb is best eaten raw for its goodness. If cooking is required, try keep at d minimum. So, for my frog leg rice, I actually only added d lily bulb 1min be4 rice cooker timing ends.
End result – d fresh lily bulb added a very nice crunch to d dish! Even Hayden took a few slices of it with d rice! MIL loves it too! Hurray!

Ingredients same as previous, just replaced d lotus seed with d fresh lily bulb.

Apple & Pear dessert

2010-03-04T22:44:00.006+08:00

On d very same nite, I also made some sweet dessert in order to used up d bal apple & pears be2 they get spoiled. I decided to use this apple/pear soup recipe but change it by replacing d meat with rock candy (冰糖) instead. Even with d modification, I understand it’s still very effective for soothing throats & removing phlegm.
End result – too sweet for me but both Hubby & MIL loves it.

1 apple, peeled & de-cored
2 sand pears砂梨, peeled & de-cored
4 candied dates蜜枣, washed
10g sweet & bitter almonds南北杏, washed
1l water
400g lean meat (replaced with 25g rock candy冰糖)

Put all into slow cooker & cook over low heat for 3-4hrs. Better effect if serve warm but can be drink chilled.

Water Chestnut soup

2010-03-04T22:11:00.005+08:00

Another soup therapy which is supposed to be good for soothing cough & remove phlegm. This 1 tasted more like a soup as compared to d罗汉果soup. Hayden loves it.

10cups water
12 water chestnut
8 red dates
1 big or 2 med carrots
500g lean pork

Put all into d slow cooker & cook over low heat for 2-3hrs.

罗汉果西洋菜汤

2010-03-02T21:53:00.004+08:00

Hayden started coughing again so I decided to try out this soup therapy which is suppose to effective in soothing throats & removing phlegm. It has d nutritious of d watercress too.

End result - a very sweet soup! Thus, will reduce d LHG by half next time.

1 LuoHanGuo罗汉果

500g lean pork

200g watercress西洋菜

2 candied dates蜜枣

1.8l water

Rinse LHG, wrap in a bag & smash. Rinse pork & cut into big pieces. Separate watercress leaves from stem & rinse.

Pour water into slow cooker. Add stem, pork, LHG & dates & cook over low heat ½hr.

Lasrly, add leaves & cook further ½hr.

Left-over Veg soup

2010-02-25T22:32:00.005+08:00

Another recipe from d Women’s Wkly mzg. This recipe is very low in fat (2.7g) & calories (275cal). It also used up whatever bal veg u have in d fridge.

2 cups veg stock
250g corn cob, trimmed
½cup bal veg
1 small carrots
30g snow peas
1 green onion, sliced thinly
Add 500g lean meat if u preferred stronger taste.

Bring stock to boil be4 adding corn/veg/carrot. return to boil be4 reducing heat & simmer (covered) for abt 15mins. then stir in rest of ingedients & simmer (uncovered) for another 2mins.

Veg Stock

2010-02-23T15:20:00.001+08:00

I saw this soup recipe in d Women’s Weekly mzg & decided to give it a try since it’s suppose to be part of a detox program…

End result – a very tasty soup even on its own. Hayden had 1 ½ bowls of it! Will take d pix d next rd.

Veg Stock original ingredients (I halved all of it)

2 med onions 300g
3 med carrots 360g
3 med parsnips 750g
2 med turnip 450g
1 small fennel bulb 200g
1 large red capsicum 350g
1 trimmed celery stalk 100g
2 cloves garlic
2 bay leaves
6 black peppercorns (I omitted this)
4l water
1 1/4 cup fresh flat-leaf parsley

Put all (except d parsley) into a slow cooker & cook over low heat for 4-5hrs. Then add parsley & simmer for 1hr more be4 serving.
Stock can be kept, covered, for up to a wk in d fridge. It’s also suitable to freeze for up to 3 mths.

Frog Congee with Lotus seed

2010-02-05T20:00:00.001+08:00

With Hayden still coughing away, I decided to give this frog leg congee recipe from Amelia Liang’s Hearty Congee recipe book. Even though I have copied it onto my phone’s notebook, I still bought d wrong ingredient but I just went ahead & try it. Also, instead of congee, I cut it short by putting all into d rice cooker to go d lazy way.

End result – very tender legs! & Hayden took 1½ bowls of it!

4 frogs - washed & cut into bit pieces.
1 tbsp soy sauce
1 tbsp oyster sauce
2 tbsp mirin
5 slices ginger

Marinate these overnite in d fridge.

1½ cup rice
½ cup lotus seeds

Rinse rice, drain & leave it aside for 15mins rinse lotus seeds & drain. Put rice into d rice cooker & pour in ard 1¾ cups of water. Add d marinated frogs & drained lotus seed onto d rice. Cook on fast cycle cause it’s not advisable to overcook d frog legs. If desired, add d marinated seasoning too but its good enough without it too.

MIlk Cupcake

2010-02-04T11:47:00.002+08:00

As Hayden has not been feeling well past wk, thus, I decided to steam up some cupcakes for him. This rd, I added raisin to it but Hayden still preferred w/o raisin.

Slow Cooker Pot Roast

2010-02-03T22:41:00.003+08:00

Been trying to search d web but am not able to figure out where I got this recipe from. So if any of u recognizes it, do tell me where it’s from so that I can credit it back to d recipe’s owner.
End result – a very tasty dish. Definitely a keeper for being so easy & simple.

Ingredients

1 can cream of mushroom soup
500g collar pork
1 large onion, chopped
2 cups sliced carrots
1 small red potato
½ cup snow peas
¼ cup chopped parsely

Directions
In a slow cooker, mix cream of mushroom soup, chopped onion and pot roast.
Cook on High setting for 3 to 4 hours, or on Low setting for 8 to 9 hours.
Add vegetables 1.5 hours before it's done.

芫荽鱼头豆腐汤

2010-02-02T22:26:00.003+08:00

Was surfing d ard when I saw that my fav blog has posted a new soup recipe so I gave it a try today.
End result - It’s not that bad except that it’s a bit too oily due to d frying. Maybe next time I use less oil on a non-stick pan..

Ingredients:

姜片 : 3 – 6片 Ginger slices
鱼头: ½ 个/ 1个 (洗净, 用少许盐涂抹鱼头) Fish head - washed & season with little salt
米酒: 15g rice wine
水: 700ml water
嫩豆腐: 2块 (切小块) tofu, diced
盐、胡椒粉 : 适量 salt & pepper - small amt
芫荽: 5束 (洗净切段) Coriander 5 stalk

1) 烧热2汤匙爆香姜片
Heat 2 tablespoons & sauté d ginger
2) 投入盐腌制过的鱼头煎至金黄色时, 盏入米酒
Add d salted fish head & pan-fry till golden be4 adding d wine
3) 加入水煮至汤沸腾, 约15-30分钟至汤变成奶白色
Then add water be4 bringing to boil, abt 15-30 mins until soup turn into a milk white color
4) 放入豆腐煮约5分钟后
Add tofu & cook abt 5 mins
5) 加盐和胡椒调味, 撒入切成段的芜茜即可
if desired, add seasoning. Top with Coriander be4 serving

功能
有祛风清热, 开胃健脾的功效不寒不燥, 适合一家大小饮用如受风寒或淋雨后, 或长期在冷气房, 常感觉头痛,身痛, 鼻塞等, 可再加青葱(大颗的葱白效果更好)煮食效果更好

Function
Relieve/dispel pathogenic wind, clear internal heat, whet d appetite, & strengthen d spleen
Not cold or dry, thus suitable for whole family consumption
For those who :
a) was subjected to cold weather or rain;
b) was spending long hrs in air-conditioned rooms;
c) often feels headache, body pain, nasal congestion and so on,
Can add scallion or big green onions for a even better result/effect.

Mini Donuts_II

2010-01-28T21:49:00.003+08:00

Hayden kept asking for d donuts this morning so I decided to give it another go. But this time, I made some modification to try out using self-rising flour instead of all-purpose flour. I also added thicken cream cause I do not have large egg on-hand. Success! At least half of d batch were. I think it’s mainly because I was still afraid to fill d hole too much, thus, d uneven result. But at least half looks ‘tall’ enough & even color throughout.

Adjusted ingredients

75g self- rising flour
35g sugar
2 tbsp coco powder
60ml fresh milk
15ml thicken cream
1 egg
2tbsp unsalted butter (melted)

Method same as previous rd.

SB Marshmallow Cake & Milk Cupcakes

2010-01-28T10:32:00.004+08:00

Hayden’s birthday is today so last nite, with no oven, I decided on making d SB marshmallow cake for his sch. However, I was only able to make a much smaller one so to ‘top’ it up; I also steam some milk cupcakes to bring along.
For this rd, I decided to use orea cookies as base since most of his classmate will be under 3yrs. However, even though I have made this quite a number of times, I was still unable to ‘catch’d right timing & thus, some of d cut strawberries sunken into d cake since it's not 'frozen' long enough. I tried to ‘save’ it but d cake is alrdy in ‘unsaved’ mode. I still went ahead & ‘cover’ it up with d jello. Hopefully, none will notice it.
As for d steam cupcake, I used 2 diff flavor pkt milk for a colored effect - Strawberries & Milo. Also, this time, I top up d batter till almost overflowing & mgd to get d ‘smiling’ effect after steaming! Job Well Done!
Hayden took 1 as BF & loved it! This is really a big improvement cause he rejected d last rd of unsmiling cupcake. Hurray!!!

Baked mini Donuts

2010-01-27T23:05:00.008+08:00

Bought this donut maker during my last wk in Bkk & decided to give it a try last nite. However, as I have mis-read d recipe, d end pdt was not very good looking – flat & discolored. D recipe requested for 10ml but I have spooned only 6-7ml onto d cup because it’s alrdy overflowing to d side! Thus d flat looking donuts. But am not able to explained d 2-tone color.

But Hayden loves it! He finished 7 pieces during d walk from home to his sch!

75g All-purpose flour
35g sugar
2 tbsp coco powder
2 tsp Baking Powder
¼ tsp salt
75ml fresh milk
1 egg
30g unsalted butter (melted)

Preheat donut maker for 5 mins.
Mix all the dry ingredients in a mixing bowl be4 adding d wet ingredients.
Stir till well mixed & smooth.
Fill each hole with 10ml of batter.
Close the lid and lock the latch.
Bake for 2 mins. Allow to cool & if desired, coat with icing sugar or top with jam for a sweeter version.

Milk Cupcake_Steamed

2010-01-23T19:56:00.006+08:00

Saw this recipe on Blessed HomeMaker’s blog few days ago. It stated no mixer or oven needed, which is perfect for me! So here goes.

End result – a very rounded (same as BH’s previous attempt) Dome shape cupcake. Not smiling at all! ;-( In fact, it looks more like d originator Aunty Yochana's end pdt. So am not really sure if it's considered successfully or a failure. Both MIL & Hubby said it's good, strong milk flavor. But Hayden rejects it without even tasting it. Maybe I shd make it more presentable to kids & offer it to him again. Since it’s such an easy recipe & only yields 8 small cupcakes, am willingly to give it anther go, in fact, very soon.

170 g Fresh Milk (mixture of 1 pkt full cream (110g) & bal low-fat)

60 g sugar

100 g cake flour

20 g rice flour

2 tsp double-action baking powder

Whisk d milk & sugar till sugar has dissolved.
Add in remaining ingredients & stir well.
Spoon into small cups lined with paper liners/muffin cup.
Steam at high heat for 10-13 mins, or until cooked.
Remove and cool on wire rack.

Hokkaido Milky bread

2010-01-21T22:34:00.005+08:00

Was shopping ard d supermkt & decided to make some changes to d Hokkaido Milky bread recipe by making it a bit more healthy by replacing ½ cup of bread flour with raw wheatgerm.
Wheat germ is d heart of d wheat. It has a nutty flavor & is also cholesterol/sodium free. It’s also full of nutrition. Just 2 tbsp serving will provide:
a) 2g of dietary fiber;
b) 13% of d recommended daily value of folic acid;
c) 10% of d recommended daily value of phosphorus, magnesium & zinc; and
d) 15% vitamin E

End result – a super fluffy loaf but d middle top collapsed. So am not really sure does that means my modification is successful or a failure.

500 g Bread flour
40g raw wheat germ
60 g Cake flour
10 g Yeast
30 g Milk powder
80 g sugar
9 g Salt
1 Egg
250 g Fresh milk
150 g heavy cream

Put all ingredients into d ABM & select normal cycle with light crust.

Jpn Stir-fry Pork w/onions

2010-01-20T22:05:00.005+08:00

I saw this on a TW cooking program & decided to give it a try since it's supposed to be super easy & healthy. But end result, d sauce looked too thick. I think I might have coated d sliced pork with too much flour. However, hubby said it’s quite good, esp when served with hot rice.

400g sliced pork - dont slice too thin
1 cup of tapioca flour
2tbsp olive oil
2 big yellow onion – slice up
3 tbsp Jpn soy sauce
1 tbsp Mirin
½ cup veg stock (optional)
½ tbsp sugar (optional)

Heat up d wok with d olive oil. Coat d pork with flour be4 putting them into d heated wok. Then add d sliced onions & stir-fry for few mins till onions has soften. Add all d sauces into d wok & stir-fry till pork is cooked through. If u prefer more sauce, just add more soy sauce or stock.

Cream Cheese Bread 6th attempt

2010-01-19T08:06:00.016+08:00

After a long break, this is my very 1st post from Spore. I have been buz meeting up with old friends & cleaning up after d move back home. Then my shipment arrived last wk & I have been busy unpacking. So far, ½ d boxes has been opened & flated. But now am struck with no more spaces to house d bal stuff so am leaving them in d boxes till I figure out where to put them. But d most important thing is – I managed to located d ABM & baked my 1st loaf last nite!

With limited ingredients, I decided on d cream cheese bread recipe since I was given a block of cream cheese from a friend. However, for reason unknown, I added 21g of egg yolk into d ABM be4 realizing that d original recipe does not even asked for egg??? D fact is – I even bother to separate d yolk from d white & weight out both to c which is closer to 20g & used it with d rest into d freezer. Mmmm???
Anyway, by d time I realized my mistake, I have alrdy started d ABM so I decided to add another 1½ tbsp of cake flour to bal out d dry/wet ratio.
End result – a surprisingly fluffy loaf! However, d crust was a bit too thick for me, soft but too thick. Other than that, it actually turns out great!

160g water/fresh milk
250g bread flour +

1½ tbsp cake flour

50g cream cheese

20g unsalted butter

21g egg yolk

10g powder milk

15g sugar

3g salt

4g yeast

Put all into bread maker on fast loaf cycle. If u prefers soft crust, do not remove from bread maker after cycle ends. Just leave it there overnite.

Pear & Ginger muffins

2009-12-24T23:41:00.004+08:00

Packers will be coming tomorrow to pack all d stuff, thus, tonite will be my last bake post unless it’s ABM baking related cause I don’t have oven in SG. For my last bake, I selected this recipe simply because I happened to have most of d ingredients on hand. & for tonite’s bake, I even happened to have a friend over to help out, who also became d 1st to taste it.
End result – very soft & tasty batch of muffins! Hurray! My last bake is successful! For this recipe, I actually reduced d amt of sugar & taster said that d sweetness is just right, coming mainly from d pears. Do note that it’s best eaten while still a bit warm out from oven.

1¾ cup all-purpose flour
½ cup granulated sugar (I used brown sugar)
½ cup plus 6 tsp packed light brown sugar
2 tsp baking powder
1/3 cup sour cream
1/3 cup whipping cream
½ cup vegetable oil
1 tbsp honey
2 eggs
1½ cup peeled & diced pears,
¼ cup candied ginger, diced

Preheat oven to 180C.
Whisk d flour, sugar & baking powder in a large mixing bowl.
In another bowl, mix sour cream, oil, honey, & eggs well be4 gently fold in into d dry mixture. DO NOT OVERMIX (note that this can be done d nite be4)
Fold in the diced pear & candied ginger. Again DO NOT OVERMIX.
Spoon batter evenly among the muffin cups to 2/3 full.
Then sprinkle d top with ½ tsp brown sugar & bake for 20mins. Remove & allow to cool be4 eating.

Chocolate Cheesecake

2009-12-23T23:33:00.005+08:00

In 2 days time, we will be packing & moving out of Bkk! Time really flies! 3yr in Bkk (including 9mths of baking) & with no future plan of getting an oven in SG, d only regret that I have is – why I didn’t try out this Chocolate Cheesecake sooner! OMG! Hubby’s ofc gals felt that it tasted just like d cheesecake from Secret Recipes! WOW! Maybe this is really a good reason to get a new oven?

Base Ingredients

100g digestive biscuits, crushed
1 tbsp cocoa powder
1 tbsp sugar
45g unsalted butter (melted)

Mix all well & press on d bottom of a 16cm spring form pan.

Fillings Ingredients

110g dark chocolate (chopped)
2 tbsp whipping cream
250g cream cheese (room temperature)
¼ cup sugar
1 egg (room temperature)
1 tsp vanilla extract

1. Melt chocolate in the heavy cream in a double boiler.
2. In another bowl, mix cream cheese & sugar well be4 adding in d egg & vanilla extract.
3. Then fold in d chocolate mixture. If u prefer a cake with marble effect, dont overmix.
4. Pour fillings into the spring form pan.
5. Bake in a preheated 150C oven until it is set, ard 45-60 mins.

Raspberry Coffee Cake

2009-12-22T21:47:00.007+08:00

Another day of trying to ‘utilise all bal ingredients’. Long, long ago, I saved this recipe on my to-dos cause I love d simplicity of it. But then, I realised I cant find d main ingredient – Bisquick mix, in d local supermkt & recipe was 'shelved'. Then last wk, for some forgotten reason, I ‘researched’ on d word Bisquick & found out what Bisquick mix is made up of! Thus, tonite, I finally get to give this simply/easy recipe a try. Of course again, I made some changes. For example, instead of a green apple, I used frozen raspberries. And because of d frozen raspberries, I reduced d milk amt to cater for d liquid that will be released from d frozen raspberries during baking.
End result – quite a bland cake, 1 can only taste a bit of saltiness here & there (although am not sure why since I only added ¾tsp of salt). D top is a bit crusty but underneath is a very soft cake. Both Hubby & MIL prefer yesterday’s peach-a-berry tart as compared to this cake. In fact, Hubby's ofc's gals thot I forgotten to put in sugar! That's how bland it was!

2 cups Bisquick mix*
½ cup low-fat milk
2 tbsp sugar
1 egg
1 cup frozen raspberries (unthawed)

* replaced with 2cups flour + 3tsp bking powder + ¾tsp of salt + 2tbsp melted unsalted butter

Preheat oven to 190C.
Grease 9" round pan. Mix all ingredients & spread ½ batter onto pan.
Put in d raspberries & spread d rest of d batter onto of it.
Bake 30 mins or until golden brown, testing with a toothpick.

Peach-a-Berry tart

2009-12-21T22:56:00.005+08:00

Another interesting recipe for me to utilize some of my bal ingredients – Peach-a-Berry pie. As usual, I made some changes in order to finish up my ingredients. Also, recipe requires 2 pie crust but I only used 1 as base, thus, my pie is kind of ‘topless’, looking more like tart than pie.
End result – a very ugly looking pie but taste GREAT! D sour taste of d raspberries adds a very nice ‘touch’ to d overall sweetness of d pie. D bal streusel topping that I added on top also added a crusty ‘bite’ to d pie, which to me, is a nice additional too. But might slice up d peaches next time in order to make it look better. Or maybe it's supposed to look so ugly, thus, d need for a 2nd crust to cover it up... mmmmm

1 can of halves peaches – drained
1 cup frozen raspberries – thawed & drained
½ cup white sugar
3 tbsp all-purpose flour
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1 pie crust
½ cup Streusel Topping

1. Preheat oven to 190C.
2. Gently mix peaches & berries with sugar, flour, & cinnamon. Transfer all onto d pie crust. Sprinkle with streusel toppings be4 spreading thin slices of unsalted butter across d top.
3. Bake 50 mins in d preheated oven, until crust is golden brown.

Nutella Cheesecake w/pie crust

2009-12-18T23:56:00.004+08:00

OMG! I have 3 blocks of Phil cream cheese to finish up within 1 wk be4 our big move back! OMG! Thus, shortlisted these 2 recipes for testing. Recipe does not required blueberries but I added whatever bal I have in my freezer to finish it up.
End result – d crust does not goes well with d cheesecake fillings cause it needs to be bake longer. Thus, will definitely need to blind bake it first if planning to use it for cheesecake fillings again. Other than that, both testers love it. In fact, Hubby took 3 slices!
Pie Crust ingredients

1¼ cups all-purpose flour
¼ tsp salt
½ cup (113g) unsalted butter, chilled
4tbsp ice water

Whisk flour & salt in mixing bowl be4 cutting d cold butter into d mixture with a pastry blender. Stop once mixture resembles coarse crumbs. Drizzle ice water over flour tbsp by tbsp until d dough comes together. Wrap dough in plastic wrap & chill for minimum 30mins be4 rolling it out into crust base. Blind-bake it for at least 20mins @ 170C be4 adding fillings.

Cheesecake Fillings ingredients

1 block (250g) Philadelphia Cream cheese, softened
¼ cup sugar
¼ tsp vanilla
1 egg
1 tbsp nutella
some frozen blueberries

Whisk cream cheese & sugar until well mix. Then add egg & vanilla till well blended. Lastly, stir in nutella. Don’t over-mix so that u can c a slight marble effect. Pour fillings onto crust & tap it to even out d fillings across d crust. Bake in d pre-heated oven for 20min @ 170C. Allow to cool be putting it into d fridge for 2 hrs or overnite be4 serving.

Apple Soup

2009-12-17T20:42:00.003+08:00

Another simple recipe from Mon's Crazy Kitchen, again, to use up bal ingredients.
End result – a very, very sweet soup due to d apples. Might increase more onions next time through.

5 small Gala apples (cut into chunks)
15 red dates (de-cored)
1.4 liters water
450g ribs (washed & scalded)
1 Yellow onion (peeled & cut into chunks)

Put all ingredients into d pot & bring to boil. Lower heat & simmer for abt 2hrs.

Peanut soup w/ribs

2009-12-16T20:28:00.000+08:00

Another easy recipe from Mon's Crazy Kitchen to use up bal ingredients. I only used 5 med size scallops & its alrdy sweet enough for my family.

5 med size dried scallops (can increase to ¼cup if desired)
1½ cup peanuts (washed)
1.4 liters water
500g ribs (washed & scalded)

Pour d water into d pot & soak d scallops in it for ard ½hr.
Then put rest of ingredients into d pot & bring to boil.
Lower heat & simmer for abt 2hrs or more if u prefer softer peanuts.

Hayden’s 1st sch dance

2009-12-15T23:53:00.001+08:00

Today was Hayden’s 1st sch dance! He did well till he saw me in d front trying to capture pix of him dancing. He actually stops dancing & started shouting “Mummy! Mummy! That’s Mummy!” OMG! OMG!

ABC Soup

2009-12-14T20:13:00.001+08:00

As we are due to move back SG in 2 wks time, am trying to finish up all the ingredients in the kitchen/fridge. So I went surfing for recipe again & found this interesting soup recipe. However, I was not able to locate d reason why it’s named “ABC soup”. As stated in most blog/post, d main ingredients do not all start with the letters A, B and C, so most ppl also do not know why it’s called “ABC soup” too.

Anyway, it’s super easy enough for me to give it a try & end result – a very sweet tasting soup indeed!

Ingredients (Serves 2-3)

400g pork ribs
1.5 liters water
2 small onions (cut to chunks)
3 small carrots (peeled & cut to chunks)
4 stalks celery (cut to chunks)
1 sweet corn (cut to chunks)
10 cherry tomato (optional if u prefer a little tangy taste)

Directions
1. Blanch pork ribs in boiling water for about 5 mins be4 rinsing with cold water. Remove & set aside.
2. Put all ingredients into a pot. Bring to boil be4 lowing d heat & simmer for another 2hrs.

Cinnamon Cranberries bread

2009-12-14T09:09:00.002+08:00

As mentioned in my previous post, am trying to finish up as much bal ingredients as fast as I can be4 d big move. Thus, I modified this recipe a bit to include whatever I can ‘throw’ in.
End result - very tall & soft loaf with only a slight tangy lemon after-taste.

1 cup low-fat milk
3 tbsp unsalted butter
3 cups bread flour
4 tbsp sugar
1½ tsp salt
2 tsp ground cinnamon
2½ tsp yeast
½ cup dried cranberries
Grated zest of 1 lemon

Put all ingredients into d ABM according to made. Select basic with light crust setting & start.

Cornflakes Cookies

2009-12-08T21:59:00.001+08:00

When I saw BH’s post on d cornflakes cookies, I was very eager to try cause I, too, has many bags of cornflakes in my freezer. However, as usual, I made some modification due to limited ingredients on hand. For example, recipe requires self-rising flour & since I have none, I decided to search d web for a solution & found this instant fix recipe.
End result – very crispy cookies but a bit too sweet for my family. Can u c d star cornflakes?
(A)
100g unsalted butter (melted)
1 normal size egg (ard 53g)
¼ cup sugar + 1/8 cup sugar
1 tsp vanilla extract

(B)
1¼ cup all-purpose flour
1½ tsp baking powder
½ tsp salt
1½ cup cornflakes

1. Mix (A) & (B) in separate bowl first. Then mix them together well in a big mixing bowl.
2. Use 2 tsp to round d cookie dough onto small paper case.
3. Bake at preheated 160C oven for 10-15 mins.
4. Let cookies cool in pan for 5 mins be4 moving it to cool completely on a wire rack.
5. Store in air-tight container.

Water Roux starter loaf

2009-12-02T23:32:00.001+08:00

Had some water roux starter left & decided to use it for the bouncy cheese loaf again. However, this time, I didn’t sprinkle any cheese on top. Also I adjusted some of the wet ingredients cause I only have 70g of water roux starter.
End result – still bouncy & fluffy! Am so happy that I gave this another go!

200g Bread flour
100g Cake flour
2tsp (6g) yeast
1tsp (6g) Salt
2tbsp (30g) Sugar
1 large Egg (est. 60g)
60ml low-fat milk
70g Water Roux Starter + 10g whipping cream
45g unsalted Butter

Put ingredients into ABM as per manufacturer's instruction & select normal white bread setting with light crust.

Vanilla SourCream bread

2009-11-30T22:35:00.002+08:00

Another interesting ABM recipe which turn out very well - super fluffy & tall loaf! Another keeper. As usual, I made some changes so u might want to go back to d original post if this does not work out.

½ cup low-fat milk
1 tbsp vanilla extract
1/3 cup sour cream
1 large egg
1 tbsp butter, softened
3 cups bread flour
3 tbsp sugar
1 tsp salt
2 tsp yeast

Put ingredients into ABM as per manufacturer's instruction & select normal white bread setting with light crust.

Pandan Milk bread

2009-11-26T22:52:00.002+08:00

Had this recipe on my to-dos list for d longest time because I didn’t have a loaf pan with a cover. So tonite, I decided to go ahead & bake this in my ABM instead. With a twist, I added pandan water instead of pandan essence. Also, I didn’t want to waste d rest of d egg so I leave d whole egg & reduced d milk instead.
End result – a very ‘springy’ loaf (holes in d pic proof that)! Cant really c d pandan green & also not much of a pandan taste but ‘springy’ enough for my family. However, it does not freeze well. But still a keeper!

52g low-fat fresh milk
66g pandan liquid
60g egg (1 large egg)
25g caster sugar
5g salt
250g bread flour
4g Instant yeast
38g butter (unsalted)

Put ingredients into ABM as per manufacturer's instruction & select normal white bread setting with light crust.

Awesome Crusty Bread

2009-11-25T23:46:00.002+08:00

With no eggs in d fridge, I went online searching for a bread recipe that’s does not require egg & decided on this Awesome Crusty bread, simple & easy ABM recipe.
End result – true to its name, awesome & crusty! & with my newly bought yeast, d loaf rise high to only miss d ABM cover by ½ inch! & it's so diff to slice due to its softness & height! Definitely a keeper!

1 cup low-fat milk
1tsp yeast
2 tbsp (28g) unsalted butter
2 tbsp sugar
1 tsp salt
2 ½ cups (300g) bread flour

Put ingredients into ABM as per manufacturer's instruction & select normal white bread setting with light crust.

Banana Bread

2009-11-22T21:17:00.011+08:00

Have not done my groceries shopping, thus, still no ‘active’ yeast on hand. And with a branch of over ripping bananas on hand, I decided to give this banana bread a try. It’s really a very super easy/simple recipe from 1 of my fav must-visit blog – Joy of Baking.com. I have tried many recipes from this blog & have been 85% successful so far. Thus, I was actually quite eager to try this out as I have actually put this in my to-do list for quite a while now.
End result – a super moist texture cake with soft crust! And the smell is so, so heavenly! I actually baked this in my ABM & went out for dinner be4 d baking cycle has completed. Imagined our surprised when we entered d hse smelling of banana after our dinner! It was simply lovely!

Hubby took a slice as dessert & was quite surprised that d crust is so soft.

1¾ cup(230g) all-purpose flour
120g white sugar (alrdy reduced)
1 tsp baking powder
¼ tsp baking soda
¼ tsp salt
1 tsp ground cinnamon
2 eggs, lightly beaten
110g unsalted butter, melted & cooled
355g ripe bananas, mashed well (abt 1 cup)
1 tsp vanilla extract

Mix d shifted dry ingredients in a big bowl & set aside.
Mix d wet ingredients in another bowl.
Be4 mixing, start up d ABM on d baking cycle.
Fold in d wet mixture into d dry ingredients lightly, ensuring not to OVER mix.
Pour d batter into d ABM pan without stopping or pausing d alrdy started baking cycle.
If u prefers a much softer crust, just leave d loaf in d ABM after d cycle ends. D moist collected during d cooling period of d ABM will moist d crust further.

'Dead' Yeast

2009-11-19T23:57:00.003+08:00

As my past 4 days of baking from d ABM were quite flat, I decided to do d yeast test today & found out that my half pkt of bal yeast is 'dead'! No wonder my breads were flat!

So I decided to give this soda bread recipe a try. End result – still flat loaf & d base of d bread were quite chewy… really not sure what’s wrong... am I losing my touch on baking...

Then I realised that I have throw it away without taking a pic of it first so no pic today on this post. And since my bake was not successful, I decided not to post d recipe in case I ruined d originator's reputation...

元肉雞湯

2009-11-17T21:18:00.003+08:00

After 2 mths of Hot Yoga & reducing my food intake, my weight still floats betw 59k (on good days) & 61kg (on worst days). With not much improvement in my weight, I decided to give this soup therapy a try.
From d pic, it's looks oily but it's actually not oily at all. But it's quite sweet due to d dried longan meat.
元肉雞湯
雞肉 (切片) 四兩 Ckn meat 200g (washed & sliced) I replaced with pork ribs
當歸八錢 Angelica roots 4-5slices (washed)
龍眼肉一兩 dried longan meat 50g (washed)

將所有材料放入燉盅內，加適量的水，燉盅加蓋，隔水用文火燉三小時，最後調味即可飲用。
Put all ingredients into a stew pot. Add enough water to cover all ingredients. Cover & double boil for 3hrs. If desired, add seasoning be4 drinking.

李醫師指出此湯有養血活血和美容養顏之效。如你感消瘦無力、頭暈和面色乾枯，可試飲用。Recipe is provided by Dr Lee Nam, who stated that this soup is nourishing & promotes blood circulation & has the effect to improved 1’s appearance/color. If you feel unable to lose weight, or feel dizzy, or has withered/dried-up complexion, do give this soup a try.

Beef Bulgogi

2009-11-17T20:03:00.001+08:00

For tonite’s dinner, I tried beef bulgogi but I think I might have used d wrong kind of beef, thus, end result – very tough beef. However, d onions & mushroom were very nice. D sauce is also very good to be eaten with rice.
330g sliced beef (marinated)
200g Shiitake
1 large or 2 small onions
6-7 cloves of garlic

Marinate with beef for 1hr

1 tbsp dark soy sauce
1 tbsp light soy sauce
1 tbsp seasame oil
3 tbsp mirin
1 tsp sugar
1 tsp paprika

Saute onion/garlic in olive oil for few mins till tender.
Add marinated beef & stir well to break up d beef.
Stir-fry till beef is cooked.
Serve over rice.

Oreo Cookie Bread

2009-11-16T23:52:00.003+08:00

Another new & interesting ABM bread recipe. End result - loaf didnt rise as high as stated in d original post. It’s soft but not that creamy. Not sure if that’s because I replaced the egg with whipping cream since I run out. No matter what, Hayden loves it!

250g bread flour
170g fresh milk
25g whipping cream
20g sugar
3g salt
55g oreo cookies (crushed)
10g unsalted butter
1tsp yeast

Add milk into ABM be4 adding d cookies. Then add rest of ingredients according to manufacturer's instructions. Selec basic setting & start.

Yogurt Cake_II

2009-11-04T23:30:00.001+08:00

Previous attempt on d yogurt cake was not quite successful (in my eyes) simply because it has not raise as high as d original recipe has stated. So when my neighbour pass another Thai snacks to my son, I decided to bake d yogurt cake again & give it to her in return for her nice gesture.
This rd, I sit down & went through d originator’s post again to review what I might have done wrongly in my 1st attempt in order to ensure no more flat cake. D only diff I found was that I used a 20cm square baking pan instead of a 20cm springform tin (which I am assuming its round as shown in her pic). So for my 2nd attempt, I decided to use my 16cm round baking pan instead. Also, this time, I shifted d flour & baking powder twice. I also omitted d zest as I don’t have any on hand.
End result - it worked! D cake rise nicely, even through still not as high as d original but good enough for me… ;-p I didn’t get to taste it cause it’s gg to my neighbour but am still happy that it looks more like a cake than a flat bread.

SB Marshmallow Cake_III

2009-11-04T21:21:00.001+08:00

Hubby’s ofc gals requested for d Strawberry Marshmallow cake so I checked for ingredients. No normal UHT milk but lots of strawberry pkt milk, no red/pink color jello but got blue (berries flavour) color jello… mmm… I went ahead & made it. So here’s a diff color version of d SB MM cake (no-bake).

Yogurt Cake

2009-11-02T23:30:00.005+08:00

With limited time on hand, I decided to try out this 'instant’ fix recipe. It’s stated that this is a very, very simple recipe & even a 4yr old can bake it. However, mine end pdt does not look like d original pic at all! Maybe I really shd attend baking class instead. I have also reduce d sugar amt to suit my family.
End result - both MIL & hubby still commented it’s still too sweet for them... sigh…

½ cup of yogurt
1½ cups of plain flour
1½ tsp baking powder
Pinch of salt
¾ cups of caster sugar
79g of unsalted butter (melted)
3 eggs
Zest from 1 lemon

Preheat the oven to 170°C.
Line a 20cm baking pan with baking parchment.
Put yogurt, flour, baking powder, salt & sugar in a large bowl. Mix in d oil & eggs be4 adding d zest.
Pour batter into prepared pan & bake for 30-35 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into centre of cake comes out just clean.

Corn tonic soup_玉米滋补汤

2009-11-02T19:07:00.002+08:00

With everyone in d family falling sick, there was no grocery shopping during d wkend. Furthermore, all of us have not got our appetite back so I better cook something simple. Thus I have to make do with withever I have in d fridge for tonite’s dinner. With limited ingredients on hand, this soup therapy recipe is d only recipe that I have almost all d ingredients.

玉米滋补汤Corn tonic soup

材料1 (洗净, 切段)
玉米 : 3 – 4条 Corn
红萝卜 : 2条 Carrots

材料2
枸杞子 : 15 – 30g Wolfberries
玉竹 : 30g P. odoratum

材料3
鸡肉/排骨 : 200 – 300g (川烫过) chkn meat/pork ribs (washed & scalded)

方法
1) 枸杞子, 玉竹洗净, 用水浸泡30分钟
Wash ingredients (2), then soak in water for abt 30mins
2) 加入玉米, 红萝卜和鸡肉, 大火煮开后, 转小火煮2 – 3 小时, 加入少许盐即可
Add rest of d ingredients, bring to boil be4 switching to low heat for 2-3hrs. Add salt if desired.
功能
有滋补强壮, 健脾开胃的功效
There is strengthen & nourishing effect on the spleen, efficacy in whetting/increase 1’s appetite
可日常饮用, 不燥不滞
Can be taken daily, it’s not dry/parched or sluggish

Dried Fig Muffins

2009-11-01T09:20:00.001+08:00

Hayden has been sick with diarrhea & vomiting after his sch Halloween’s party. And he’s not eating at all because he was aware that he will be vomiting them out later. Thus, within 2 days, he has lost almost 1kg! Even d doc suggested putting him on drip in order to ensure he does not dehydrate further & stress out his kidneys. But in d end, hubby decided to take him home & try medication instead. So, with Hayden not eating well, I went online to search for something to bake that will have a strong taste to get Hayden interested in eating again.
That’s when I saw this interesting muffin receipe from HHB’s blog & since I love figs, I decided to give it a try. But as usual, I made some adjustment to it to reduce d sweetness since d originator stated in her post that it’s still too sweet for her even after she has reduced d amt.
End result – Hayden ate ½ muffin! Hubby commented that d muffin texture is ok but it’s too sweet for him & he does not like it at all. I informed him that I have reduced d sugar amt by 1/3 alrdy & d sweetness is from d figs. Well, cant go rd & please everyone. Since d main aim is to get Hayden to eat, I will consider this a success…
Yield 9 muffins

205g dried figs (de-stem & cut quarters)
90g unsalted butter
250ml apple juice
Grated zest of 1 lemon
315g plain flour
2½ tsp baking powder
½ tsp salt
125g sugar
2 eggs, lightly beaten
1½ tsp vanilla extract

Method:
1. Heat juice & butter in a saucepan over low heat until butter has melted.
2. Remove from heat & add in figs & zest. Leave to cool for abt 1hr or till figs r softened.
3. Preheat oven to 170C.
4. In a mixing bowl, stir together flour, sugar, salt & baking powder.
4. Make a well in d centre & add all d wet ingredients. Stir until just combined with d batter still slightly lumpy. Do not over-mix.
5. Spoon batter into muffin cups, filling to d rim of d cup.
6. Bake for abt 25-30 mins or until golden. U can also insert a toothpick into d centre & it’s done when toothpick comes out clean. Transfer muffin onto cooling rack & leave to cool completely.

Seduction Brownies

2009-10-29T22:37:00.010+08:00

Tomorrow is Halloween & Hayden is required to bring 1 dish to his sch party. So here I was, searching for a easy recipe to try out, when I went back to Cookie Baker Lynn’s blog. She really loves brownies & as I was browsing through, I saw a rather simple recipe that I think I shd be able to handle so here goes - Seduction Brownies.
It’s really a very easy recipe but am not sure why my brownies does not look like d original pics. At first, I thot it might be because I didn’t prepare d ganache (didn’t want d kids to get too much chcocolate). Then I realised d round baking pan might be d reason. D brownie came out with BIG cracks all around & d inside r still slightly wet. I was still trying to figure out whether to consider this a failure when Hubby happened to walk in & saw it. He’s a chocolate fan & requested for a slice so I cut 1 for him to taste. He loved it! MIL also tried a bite & find it very bitter at first, followed by a sweet taste after it has ‘flow’ down her throat. Interesting cause I have alrdy reduced d amt of sugar. Mmm….
But now with a slice in my hubby’s tummy & cracks all over it, I cant send this to Hayden’s sch. So I baked another 1, this time using d same size pan as stated in d original post – 20cm square baking pan. This time, d brownie looks so much better than d 1st attempt & there is no visible cracks on d brownie after it’s be remove from d oven! Hurray! Even though it still looks flatter as compared to d original pics but shd still be consider a success (at least to me) ;-p

Hubby's ofc gals commented d rd brownie is not soft enough. However, Hayden's sch loves d flatter brownie. So I guess I shd be baking this in d square pan next time.
115g unsalted butter
115g unsweetened chocolate chips
¾ cup sugar
2 eggs
1 tsp vanilla extract
¾ cup or 105g all-purpose flour
½ cup or 65g chopped almonds

Preheat oven to 140C. Butter an 20cm square baking dish.
Melt butter & unsweetened chocolate in a double boiler, stirring often.
Once melted, remove from heat be4 stirring in d sugar, followed by eggs & vanilla extract.
Fold in d flour & nuts, stirring just till incorporated. Scrape batter into prepared pan & smooth d top.
Bake for 25 mins. Cool completely on a wire rack be4 cutting.

清热滋阴杂菜汤

2009-10-28T20:59:00.002+08:00

This is just another soup therapy from Violet Fenying 陈粉樱's blog. I have always love to visit her blog simply because she posts lots of soup therapy recipe that's provided by 郭美伶医师(Dr. Guo Meiling) TCM. The recipes are usually very simple & easy to prepare. You just need to ensure that u know where to get some of d Chinese ingredients that’s usually required. But in this recipe , most can be found in normal supermkt.

清热滋阴杂菜汤

材料 (ingredient) (as shown in d pic)
(a)
排骨 : 500克 (洗净, 川烫过) Pork ribs, 500g (wash, scalded)

(b)
姜 : 1块 (拍扁) Ginger, 1piece (pat flat)

(c) 洗净, 切段 wash & slices
莲藕 : 1节 Lotus root, 1 section
牛蒡 : 1条 Burduck, 1 stick
玉米 : 2条 Corn, 2 stick
胡萝卜 : 3条 Carrot, 3 pc

方法Method
1) 将川烫过的排骨放入砂锅中, 加入水盖过表面
Put scalded ribs into casserole & add enough water to cover d surface of d ribs
2) 放入拍散的姜及材料3, 大火煮开后, 转慢火煮1小时至汤汁变成白色
Place rest of ingredients into casserole & bring to boil. Then switch to low heat & simmer for 1hr or till it turns into a white sauce.
3) 加入盐调味即可 If desired, add salt be4 serving

功能Function
滋补清热, 常食用可补益身体
Nourishing & clear internal heat, beneficial to health/body when consume frequently
助消化, 保持大便通畅
Aid digestion, also helps maintain smooth stool

Peanut Butter Bread

2009-10-27T23:31:00.003+08:00

This is another recipe from HHB's blog & it’s an ABM recipe! I printed it out immediately & give it a try. It produced very wet dough but since no shaping is required, I didn’t add any additional flour to bal it out.

End result – a very soft & nutty loaf. Hayden & Hubby loves it but MIL commented that it tasted weird.

300ml low-fat milk
3 tbsp crunchy peanut butter
1 tbsp veg oil
450g (3 cups) bread flour
1½ tsp salt
2 tsp caster sugar
2 tbsp dried skimmed milk powder
1¼ tsp instant yeast

Put ingredients according to ABM manual & select Basic White setting with light crust. Start.

Yogurt Bread

2009-10-26T22:07:00.002+08:00

I have tried 3 diff yogurt bread recipes so far & have not found a ‘GREAT’ keeper yet. So when I saw this recipe on HHB’s blog yesterday while waiting for d honey buns to finished baking, I decided to give it a try next day (which is today). However, I decided to change some of d wet ingredients because I need to finish up d bal drinking yogurt. Also, her post mentioned dividing d dough into 3 loafs but to me, d dough seems too small to be divided into 3 but I decided to follow ‘instruction’. Also, 8mins into d kneading phase in d ABM, I noticed that d dough is just too wet so I added 4 tbsp of cake flour. It also took longer than usual on d 2nd proofing.
End result – very soft but I cant taste d mixed fruits yogurt flavour at all!

250g bread flour
15g sugar
3g salt
1 tsp yeast
130g mixed fruit flavoured drinking yogurt
25g egg (about half an egg)
30g butter

Put all ingredients into d ABM & select basic white with light crust. Start.

Honey Buns

2009-10-25T23:09:00.008+08:00

Saw this simple recipe from HHB’s blog & decided to give it a try. However, after reading further on her posting, I decided to reduce d wet ingredients in order to ensure d dough would be more manageable. Sure enough, d finished dough was quite manageable even though I need to flour my hands more often as compared to other bakes. I even managed to put some mini dark chocolate chips inside 1 of d dough.
However, after 2nd proofing, d dough didn’t seems to have rise high enough but am running out of time so I decided to go ahead & bake it. Big mistake cause d buns didn’t seems to raise well after baking. But lucky, d inside of buns were soft & fluffy. However, I cant really taste d honey at all… Not sure if I shd increase d honey portion next time… mmmm…

300g bread flour
4g salt
1 tsp instant yeast
1 egg lightly beaten plus enough milk to make 175g
50g honey
30g unsalted butter

Place all ingredients except d butter into d ABM, select Dough & press start. Add d butter after 8mins into d kneading phase. Let ABM continue until d cycle end (which in my case, inclded d 90mins 1st proofing).
Remove dough & press out d trapped air as give it a few light knead. Divide into 9 equal rounds & cover with cling wrap, leaving it to rest for 10mins.
Flatten each dough & press out d trapped air be4 shaping them into a smooth round ball. (can knead chips or other fruit bits in this phase)
Place dough seam side down onto a 20cm by 20cm square baking tray that’s sprayed with veg oil. Loosely cover with cling wrap & let it proof for 60 mins or until double in size.
Bake at preheated oven at 180C for abt 15-20 mins until the bread is golden brown all over. Cover surface with a sheet of aluminum foil if surface is browning too quickly. Remove from oven, unmold immediately & let cool on wire rack.

Blueberry Lemon Coffee Cake

2009-10-24T23:29:00.002+08:00

Was just browsing ard d web when I chanced upon Kevin’s blog & drawn by some of his bakes. I was very interested in 1 of his BF recipe – Blueberry & Lemon Coffee cake. However, with 2 toddlers ard, am not sure if coffee cake is d right thing for them until I found out that a coffee cake does not necessarily have coffee! D name mainly suggest serving d cake with coffee! Great, since tomorrow is Sunday, I decided to give this recipe a try.
It’s really a very simple cake. However, hubby & MIL prefer me to reduce d amt of sugar so I decided to omit d toppings. Also, as mentioned in my past few bakes, I believed weather temp plays a part in d batter so instead of adding all d milk at 1 go, I pour it in part by part & stop when I feel that d batter is wet enough. So there will be some slight diff betw my ingredients as compared to d originator – Kevin’s.
End result – OMG! It tasted really GOOD! I wld actually considered this a success bake even though it’s flatter as compared against Kevin’s cake given d fact I actually used a smaller pan (8’x8’). I really love it! MIL commented that she can tasted very strong lemon but hubby brushed that aside & said it’s actually very nicely done, very light & fluffy. ;->

Ingredients:
2 cup flour
2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
90g butter (soften)
2/3 cups sugar
2 eggs
100ml milk
1 cup wild blueberries
1 teaspoon grated lemon rind

Directions:
1. Mix flour, baking powder and salt in a bowl.
2. Cream butter & sugar in a bowl.
3. Mix in eggs.
4. Fold d flour mixture & milk into butter/sugar mixture.
5. Fold in blueberries.
6. Pour mixture into a greased 8' x 8' baking pan. Sprinkle grated lemon rind over d top.
7. Bake in a preheated 170C oven for abt 35 mins.
note - Kevin also mentioned this coffee cake freezes well so it can easily be store away in d freezer for another time.

Milo FunnyFaces Cookies

2009-10-23T23:59:00.005+08:00

Was directed to this recipe by BH & decided to give it a try tonite. However, with MIL nagging abt giving d 2 toddlers too much chocolate, I decided to try replace with marshmallows instead. But what a horror when I checked d cookies 10mins into d baking process – those cookies that r stuffed with marshmallows r cracking open & marshmallows r flowing out of d dough! (pic1) Yuk!
And even after lowing d temp from 140C to 130C, I noticed that my entire 1st batch was burned only after 15mins in d oven! Argh!
So in d end, I have to throw away d entire 1st batch. For d 2nd batch, I decided to just follow d recipe & insert chocolate chips into d dough. However, I lower d temp in order to ensure no burned cookies again.

(1)
180g butter, soften at room temp
80g Milo
(2)
200g cake flour
25g corn flour
25g milk powder
(3)
100g chocolate chips
some chocolate rice
some Koko Krunch

Method:
1. Pre-heat oven to 130C. Line baking tray with baking paper and set aside.
2. Sieve (2).
3. Cream (1) be4 adding (2) to form dough.
4. Divide dough into 10g each. Put 3 chocolate chips into each piece of dough & roll into balls.
5. Prepare d faces as u c please.
6. Bake at 130C for abt 20 mins.
7. Leave to cool on wire rack before storing in an airtight container.

山药豆腐羹_Yam bean curd soup

2009-10-22T21:22:00.005+08:00

MIL told my mum abt all d soup recipes that I have been trying out from the web that’s quite beneficial to our health so I went & get another interesting/easy recipe to let my mum try out. Her comment – too blend for her taste bud. Sigh… so diff to please...

山药豆腐羹

材料1
香菇 : 6 – 8朵 (洗净, 泡软后切丁, 保留浸泡的水) dried mushroom, washed, soaked until soft be4 dicing, reserve d water that was soaked
高汤: 适量 broth, moderate quantity

材料2
鲜山药 : 300g (去皮, 切丁) Fresh yam, peel & diced
嫩豆腐 : 1盒 (切成与山药同样大小) tender bean curd – 1box (cut into same size as fresh yam)
盐: 适量 salt: moderate quantity

材料3 (调均成粉浆) mix well
粟米粉 : 1tsp corn flour
水 : 2 tbsp water

材料4
鸡蛋 : 3个 (打散) eggs, beat well
芫荽1 – 2棵 (洗净切末) Coriander, 2 stalks, washed & minced

材料5
胡椒粉 : 适量 pepper: moderate quantity

方法
1) 锅中加入高汤, 冬菇水, 冬菇丁, 煮滚10分钟
Add (1) into pot & boil for 10mins
2) 加入鲜山药丁, 豆腐丁, 续煮5 – 10分钟后, 加盐调味
Add (2) & continue to boil for 5-10mins. Add salt if desired
3) 汤再沸腾时, 用粉浆勾芡至浓稠状, 淋入蛋液并撒香菜末, 胡椒粉即可
Once boiling, thicken with (3) be4 adding (4) & if desired (5) too.

功能
健脾滋肾，能补益身体而不燥，适合一家大小常食用
Strengthen spleen & nourish kidney, replenish d body & yet no too dry/parched. Suitable for whole family (elder or youngster) regular consumption.
尤其天气燥热时或工作忙碌常熬夜，觉疲倦、口干、咽干、手足心热、睡眠不安，大便干燥等
In particular, good to consume on dry/hot weather. Also good for those who:
a) have lots of late nites;
b) feel fatigue often;
c) have dry mouth/throat
d) have heaty/warm hands/legs
e) have un-peaceful/disturbed/restless sleep
f) are constipated; etc

Gula Melaka AgarAgar

2009-10-21T22:16:00.001+08:00

With 2 toddlers at home, I decided to give this dessert recipe a try after reading abt it from BH’s blog. However, after taking note that my MIL prefer tougher agar agar, I reduced d liquid amt.End result - a tough agar agar, MIL commented too tough & Hayden does not like it. But both my mum & my nephew took 3 pieces each! Guess 1 cant make everyone happy…

Ingredients - Milk Layer
1 tbsp agar agar powder
500 ml water
80g condensed milk

Method
1. Put d water in a saucepan & turn on d heat, then whisk in agar agar.
2. Cook until agar agar is dissolved, then add in d condensed milk.
3. Pour into a cake pan to cool be4 popping into d fridge to set. Once it’s set, use a cutter to cut out the pattern & remove d cut-out with a toothpick. Lease aside in another bowl. Put both back into d fridge while you prepare d brown layer.

Ingredients - Brown layer
7g agar agar powder
600 ml water
100g gula melaka
35g sugar

1. Boil all d ingredients together until dissolved.
2. Pass ½ of d mixture through a fine sieve onto d prepared milky layer pan. Pop back into fridge to harden.
3. Place d previous milky cut-out shapes into small jelly moulds & fill up with bal brown layer. Leave to cool be4 putting into fridge to set.
Once set, remove from pan/mold & serve.

三杯鸡_SanBeiJi

2009-10-21T20:51:00.004+08:00

With my mum & nephew in town, I went surfing for something interested to try out & decided on this recipe from Baking Mum. And in order to explain why this dish was called 三杯鸡, I went online to locate the story behind this dish & found out that there r many versions on the origins of 三杯鸡. However, the name was derives from the 3 cups of sauces required – soy sauce, rice wine & sesame oil. Even though it does not really required 1 cup each. But I decided that this is d best way to explained to 2 toddlers.

End result - both MIL & mum commented that more wine shd be added.

Ingredients:

800g boneless ckn thigh
10 slices ginger
15 cloves garlic
2 stalk spring onions (cut into 2 inch pieces)
Branch of basil leaves

Seasonings:

45 ml sesame oil
45 ml light soy sauce
¼ cup Chinese cooking wine + 2-3tbsp for serving
1½ tbsp sugar (can change depending on 1 preference of sweetness)
1½ tbsp mirin
1½ tsp cinnamons
¼ tsp five spice powder
1 tbsp tomato ketchup
1 tbsp apple vinegar

Place ginger, spring onions, chilli at d bottom of a pot.

Place chkn piece on top be4 pouring all the seasonings ingredients into d pot.

Cook chicken uncovered for abt 15 mins over high heat.

Add in bunch of basil, cover pot & continue to cook until sauce thickens. D thickness of d sauce r dependable on individual’s preference. Turn off fire once that right thickness is reached.

Sprinkle more wines into d pot & stir well be4 serving.

English Muffin_II

2009-10-18T00:57:00.009+08:00

Sunday is coming again & I’m still trying to figure out what kind of BF to make. I was surfing thru d web & chanced upon HHB’s post on her scones. In her post, she mentioned abt how 1 can still have freshly baked scones in pj without losing much beauty sleep by refrigerating d dough overnite. That’s when I remembered d last rd of soft & fluffy English muffin & decided to c if I can do d same.

And with last rd of sticky experience, I decided to change d recipe/method a bit to c if it can be better managed. Instead of pouring all d ingredients into d ABM immediately, I only pour in ¾ of d wet ingredients. After 5 mins into d dough setting, I checked for wetness be4 pouring in another 1-2tbsp of d wet ingredients. That way, I wont get a dough that’s too sticky to manage. All this was done last nite ard 10pm. By d time d dough cycle is done, it is alrdy 11+. That’s when I drop d dough into a greased bowl, covered & pop into d fridge overnite.

Next morning, I got up only ard 8+ to remove d dough out from d fridge, rolled out, cut into circles & let rise in room temp while I go wash up. After which, I heat up d frying pan & started ‘cooking’ d muffins. This is really better! It’s more manageable than my previous attempt with d rather sticky dough & d muffin shape r more rounded as compared to my previous attempt too! They tasted a bit diff due to d diff ingredients but yet still soft & fluffy! YES!

80ml low-fat milk, warmed
1 tbsp brown sugar
1 tsp yeast
26g unsalted butter, soften
2 cups + 4tbsp Bread Flour
Pinch of salt
1 egg, lightly beaten
100ml buttermilk

Too bad all 15 muffins were gone be4 I remembered to take any more pics! Argh!

Pumpkin Muffins

2009-10-15T22:54:00.011+08:00

I have always wanted to try baking something with pumpkin but was quite put off on d process of making pumpkin puree. Then 2 days ago, I saw Blessed Homemaker’s post on her pumpkin muffin & decided to give it a try since I have 2 butternut squash on hand. So I went ahead & prepared d puree using d baking method on that very nite.

Preparing d squash puree - cut squash in half lengthwise, remove seeds & stringy fibers. Place cut-side down on a baking pan with 1 cup of water. Bake at 150 degrees C for ard 30-45 mins (depending on size). Scoop out the pulp & puree in a food processor until smooth. By d time I finished pureeing, it’s alrdy ard 11pm so I decided to freeze d puree until I have time to bake d muffin.

Now, 2days later, with time on hand, I decided to go ahead & give d muffin recipe a try. However, in d mid of measuring d ingredients, I realised I did not have enough sugar! OMG! But since I have alrdy thawed d puree, I decided to go ahead. Thus, I was very careful when it’s time to fold d wet mixture into d dry ingredients. D wet mixture was poured part by part into d dry ingredients till d batter is ‘wet’ enough. This yields 9 muffins & 1 can really tasted d sunflower seed oil. This batch is also darker in color because of d brown sugar.

While d 1st batch of muffins were baking in d oven, I was cleaning up d kitchen when my eyes kept falling onto d bal wet mixture. Since it will be such a waste to throw it away, I decided to use it up by using icing sugar instead. This in turn yields 2 muffins. This rd d batter is much ‘wetter’ than d previous batch & d sunflower seed oil taste is stronger too.

(A) Dry Mix (+ r d ingredients for 2nd batch)
250g cake flour + 70g cake flour
1½ tsp baking powder + ¼ tsp
½ tsp baking soda + pinch
126g brown sugar + 20g icing sugar
¼ tsp salt + pinch

(B) Wet Mix
110ml pkt milk
130ml whipping cream
100g sunflower seed oil
2 eggs

(C) 140g pumpkin puree

Method
1. Preheat oven @170C. Prepare muffin cups.
2. Mix (A) in a bowl.
3. In another bowl, whisk (B) till smooth.
4. Add (C) to (B).
5. Add wet mixture to (A) & stir till just blended.
6. Spoon onto prepared tin. If desired, sprinkle some chocolate chips on top.
7. Baking for 15 - 20 mins or until cooked.
8. Cool on rack.

Yoghurt Panna cotta

2009-10-14T20:18:00.011+08:00

I found out abt Bill Granger when I was searching for a good/easy scone recipe. After gg through some of his recipes & shows, I realised he always tries to provide simple & easy recipes to suit any novice who’s interested in learning to cook/bake. N because of that, I became a fan! So there’s another simple dessert recipe 'Yoghurt Pannacotta' from Bill Granger. I dont really know what Panna Cotta meant until I researched for it on Wikipedia. It actually & literally meant "cooked cream" in Italian.
I actually made this 2 days ago but posted-phone d posting cause am missing 1 ingredient for d topping. However, after 2 days, I still have not got d rose-water. So I decided to replace it with honey instead. It’s really a very easy dessert to prepare. Taste a little heavy (due to d cream), bit sour (due to d raspberries) & sweet (due to d honey) all at 1 mouth. Great add-on after a light meal!

185 ml Cream
55 g caster sugar
½ tsp Vanilla extract
1½ leaves Gelatine
250 g Honey yoghurt

Place cream, sugar & vanilla extract in a saucepan over a medium heat. Stir until sugar is dissolved, then just bring to the boil before removing from heat.

Soak gelatin leaves in cold water until soft. Squeeze out excess water & drop it into the hot cream mixture & whisk until dissolved.

Add yoghurt & whisk until smooth. Strain mixture through a fine sieve.

Divide mixture betw four 100 ml cup, cover with plastic wrap & chill for minimum 3 hours, or until just set.

Toppings

½ cup of frozen rasberries, thawed
½ tbsp icing sugar sifted
1 tbsp honey, runny

Place half of d rasberries in a glass bowl & crush with a fork. Stir in the icing sugar & taste for sweetness. Fold in remaining raspberries & d honey. Chill until ready to serve. To serve, place spoonfuls of the honey rasberries on top of each pannacotta & serve immediately.

Raisin Cookies

2009-10-13T18:51:00.003+08:00

After d last failed cookie attempt, I thot of gg back to d recipe that worked – Joyofbaking's Raisin Cookies. This time, I followed it closely, except that I ran out of milk & vanilla extract, so I still had to changed some of d ingredients. Also, previous attempt was a bit too sweet for me so this rd, I reduced d sugar amt too. I also took d advice from Shopoholic2802 & chill/cool d batter in d fridge for at least 2hrs be4 baking them in d oven.
End result – they were so much closer to how d original cookies look! YES! Even without d vanilla extract, d cookies do tasted so much better than my previous attempt on this same recipe!
Ingredients

1 cup all purpose flour
1 tsp baking powder
1/8 tsp salt
¼ tsp ground cinnamon
1/3 cup (70g) light brown sugar
85g unsalted butter, softened
1 egg
20 ml whipping cream
½ cup diced raisins

Mix all well & pop it into d fridge for at least 1-2hrs be4 spooning tspful onto baking pan. Bake @ 160c for ard 8mins for each batch. Allow to cool down be4 putting into container.

Mixed Mushroom Soup_蘑菇什锦汤

2009-10-13T17:35:00.001+08:00

Just saw this post this morning & decided to give it a try even though am missing 1 ingredient - water chestnut. Smell strongly of d dried beancurd skin but overall, tasted ok.
Mixed Mushroom Soup_蘑菇什锦汤

材料 Ingredient (1)
腐竹 : 50g (泡软, 切段) Yuba, soaked until soft, cut into sections
黑木耳 : 50g (泡软, 撕成小朵) black fungus, soaked until soft, then tear into small pieces
胡萝卜 : 1条 (洗净, 去皮, 切片) carrot, washed/peeled & sliced
马蹄 : 150g (去皮, 切片) water chestnut, peeled & sliced
姜 : 3 – 5 片 ginger slices

材料 Ingredient (2)
鲜冬菇 : 150g (洗净, 切片) fresh mushroom, washed & sliced
瘦肉 : 200g (洗净, 切片, 加少许酱清, 粟米粉拌匀) lean meat, washed & sliced, mix with little soya/corn flour

材料 Ingredient (3)
盐 : 适量 Salt, moderate if desired
麻油 : 适量 Sesame oil, moderate

方法 Method
1) 锅中加水适量, 加入材料1, 煮5 – 10 分钟
With enough water to cover ingredients (1) in a pot, cook for 5-10mins
2) 加入材料2煮至肉熟, 加盐调味
Add (2)& cook till meat is done. Add salt if desired
3) 熄火前再加麻油即可
Turn off heat be4 adding sesame oil

功能 Function
补气益胃，清热生律，和中润肠。
Rep vital breath & beneficial to stomach, clear heat & regulate inner temp, harmonise & moist intestines
可经常食用，尤其是中老年人及体质燥热、大便易干燥者
Suitable to regular consumption, esp d elderly & ppl with dry/hot physical, or ppl having dry stools
或天气炎热、过食燥热食物时食用
Also suitable on hot weather, or when excessive heaty/dry food were consumed.

Thai Jellyfish salad (Yam naem khao tod)

2009-10-12T19:02:00.012+08:00

When I 1st tried this salad, I was so in love! Using d limited Thai language that I know, I tried to ask d street vendor for d name but I never got it (guess I need to practice d language more). Few mths later, I finally mgd to find out from another customer buying from d same street vendor that this salad is called Yam naem khao tod (Yam Naem for short). She even bother to explained that it’s best eaten with betel leaves due to d its medicinal properties.

I really love this salad that can be bought along d streets of Bangkok for only THB25. In fact, it’s so good that I have it almost every day for lunch after my Hot Yoga session.

The balance of fish sauce, lime juice, sugar & salt listed here are guidelines. Thai salad is an individual dish that you will find you might like with more of any 1 ingredient than what the recipe calls for.

2 cups jelly fish, shredded
1 tsp sugar
¼ tsp salt
2 tbsp lemon juice
¼ cup Scallion
¼ cup ginger, sliced into thin slices
½ cup peanuts, toasted
1-2 tbsp fish sauce
dried peppers flakes, optional

Cut jelly fish into shreds, soak in water for 2 hour, take them out, soak in warm water for 4 hours & shift into ice water. Before eating, take them out, squeeze water out & place on a plate. You can also microwave the jelly fish for 30 seconds be4 adding them to the salad to kill any residual bacteria.

Just put them all into a mixing bowl & mix them well. They r usually wrap in either lettuce, basil, or betel leaves be4 putting into 1’s mouth.

Optional - for a vegetarian, omit jelly fish & substitute soy sauce for fish sauce. You can also replace jelly fish with dried shrimp. Some also prefer tamarind in place of lemon juice.

English Muffins

2009-10-11T10:02:00.004+08:00

Sunday is usually d day we don’t go out for BF so I was browsing through Cookie Baker Lynn’s blog & saw this simple/easy English muffin recipe & decided to give it a try. However, as mentioned in previous post, I believed that our weather temp might play a very important part in any dough related baking. Therefore, I decided to try & error by adding ingredients part by part so that I can stop as & when I c fits. Thus, ingredients r a little diff from d original.

As stated in d original post, it does yield a very sticky dough & I really have a very hard time trying to cut it into circles. By d time I put them onto d frying pan, their r in all kinds of odd shape. Also, as advised by Lynn, I didn’t add cornmeal in order to ensure my frying pan’s surface does not get scratch.

End result - OMG! Never taste such soft & fluffy English muffins! I just cant stop eating it even after finishing d 3rd piece! Yum, yum! However, I never get that little "cut me" divot. Maybe next time…

180ml low-fat milk, warmed
30ml whipping cream
23g unsalted butter, soften
Pinch of salt
1 tbsp brown sugar
1 egg, lightly beaten
2 cups + 4tbsp Bread Flour
1 tsp yeast

Place ingredients in ABM following manufacturer's instructions & set d "dough" setting. The dough shd be very soft & a bit sticky so do check after 5mins into kneading & add flour/milk if required.

After d cycle is complete, trf dough to a floured surface & roll it out until its abt 1/2-inch thick. Cut out circles with a floured 3-inch cutter. Re-roll & cut out leftover dough until it’s all finish. Cover muffins with a damp cloth & let rest for abt 20 mins.

Heat a frying pan over low heat. Do not grease, but sprinkle with cornmeal if desired. Cook each side for abt 7 mins. If possible, try using a larger pan so that you'll be better able to keep up with d rising muffins. Check after 3-4 mins to ensure muffins r browning gently. If they seem to be cooking either too fast or too slowly, adjust temp of frying pan.
When muffins r brown on both sides, trf to a wire rack for cooling, & proceed with d rest.

Brownie Bites

2009-10-10T16:59:00.006+08:00

I was really quite disappointed with most of my bakes recently. Of course this does not included those that were baked in d ABM, which has been gg on quite well so far. I was told that most of my failures might have been due to my little understanding of d oven that I am using. Friends told me that I need to really ‘learn’ how d oven really works, that meant besides reading d manual. So nowadays, I tried to stand by d oven whenever am baking to c if I can ‘understand’ it.

N with no success in past cookies testing, I decided to give this brownie recipe from Cookie Baker Lynn’s blog a try instead. It’s a very easy recipe & I still have problem with it due to my oven. D temp is always giving me problem.

1st batch of bigger size brownies were too dry after only 10mins @ a lower temp of 150c. 2nd batch of smaller size brownies were better but still consider dry in d middle, given d fact that brownie shd be rather wet in d middle. I also reduced d amt of sugar cause we dont really like too sweet.

Am really starting to think maybe am not suitable/capable of baking anything else but bread with ABM! Sigh…

113g unsalted butter, cut into chunks
58g unsweetened chocolate bits
½ cup all-purpose flour
pinch of baking powder & salt
¾ cup granulated sugar
2 eggs
1½ tsp vanilla extract

Preheat oven to 150C.

In the saucepan, melt butter & chocolate over low heat, stirring occasionally, until mixture is smooth. Transfer mixture to a medium bowl & set aside to cool.

Sift flour, baking powder, & salt together into another bowl.

Stir sugar, eggs & vanilla extract into d cooled chocolate mixture until well combined be4 adding flour mixture. Stir until blended.

Spoon batter into prepared muffin cups, filling them only 2/3 full. Bake for 8-10 mins, or until set but still soft in d center, because brownies r supposed to be wet.

Let brownies cool in muffin cups on a wire rack for abt 10 mins, be4 removing them completely.

Vanilla Butter Cookies

2009-10-09T23:06:00.013+08:00

Am still testing few cookie recipes hoping to find 1 that will work. Tonite, am testing on this recipe from Cookie baker Lynn's blog. However, am not sure if it's due to weather or temp (even though I have alrdy lower d temp), d batter spread out too fast d moment it's popped into d oven. Thus, most of d cookies' edge were burned badly.
End result, cookies were all very flatted & brown in color ;-( looks nothing near to what d original looks like at all! Guess I shd consider this a failure, right? Sigh…

Ingredients

1 cup all-purpose flour
1/3 tsp salt
1/6 tsp baking powder
110g unsalted butter, softened
½ cup brown sugar
1 tsp vanilla extract
2 egg

Preheat to 160C.
In a mixing bowl whisk together flour/salt/baking powder until well mixed.
In another bowl beat butter till smooth be4 adding sugar & vanilla extract. Continue beating for abt 2 mins until mixture is well combined.
Add eggs & beat until well mixed.
Then add flour mixture & mix just until blended.
Scoop ard 1 tbsp of batter & put them abt 3 inches apart on cookie sheets. d batter will spread out as it bakes.
Bake two sheets at a time for 8-10 mins, or till d edges turn golden brown.
Move sheets onto cooling racks & let cool for 5 mins be4 transferring cookies to d racks to cool completely. Repeat with remaining batter on cooled cookie sheets.

Peanut Butter Cookies

2009-10-08T23:27:00.003+08:00

Hayden’s sch is requesting for Halloween Bake sale donation so I went searching for something new to try out & decided on this interesting recipe from 101 Cookbooks. Supposed to end with a slightly dusty looking mixture but as u can c from d pic, not dusty at all. So am really not sure if I have done this correctly or not.
Ended with batches of rather soft cookies. But Hayden, hubby & MIL said taste great!

(1)
1 cups all-purpose flour
½ tsp baking soda
¼ tsp fine grain sea salt
(2)
½ cup chunky natural peanut butter
½ cup maple syrup
1/6 cup extra virgin olive oil
¾ tsp vanilla extract

Preheat oven to 150C. In a mixing bowl combine ingredient (1).
In another large bowl combine ingredient (2). Stir until combined.
Pour flour mixture over peanut butter mixture & stir until barely combined - still a bit dusty looking.
Let sit for five minutes, be4 giving 1 more quick stir.
Then drop by heaping tbspful onto parchment-lined baking sheets. Press down on each one gently with the back of a fork. Bake for 10+ mins will be enough. Over-baking will make them too dry.
Let cool 5 mins & transfer to a cooling rack.

Portuguese Sweet Bread

2009-10-06T23:38:00.001+08:00

Was surfing through d web & found this simple & interesting recipe to try out. Produce a rather high loaf, nearly hit d top of my ABM cover. Very, very soft loaf! Not as sweet as d name but good enough for m family. But very difficult to cut due to d height of loaf, ended with several uneven slices.

1 cup milk
1 egg
28g unsalted butter
1/3 cup brown sugar
¾ tsp salt
3 cups bread flour
2½ tsp active dry yeast

1. Add ingredients in order suggested by your manufacturer.
2. Select "cake" setting.

Blueberries Cake

2009-10-05T21:17:00.012+08:00

With so many good reviews on this banana cake from Baking Mum, I decided to give it a try. But instead of banana, I used blueberries since I have so much in d freezer.
As usually, even under watchful eyes, d top of d cake still got burned. ;-( But after slicing off d burned top, d inside looks ok & taste moist/soft. MIL said a bit crumpy but overall, good.

Ingredients
(1)
90g soften unsalted butter
65g brown sugar

(2) 1 Egg

(3)
25g whipping cream
½ tsp vanilla essence

(4)
125g Cake flour
½ tsp baking powder
½ tsp Bicarbonate of Soda
110g thawed blueberries

Method:

Cream (1) till light & creamy.
Pour in egg slowly & beat till creamy.
Add in (3) & mix well.
Fold in (4) till well combined. Do Not overmix.
Pour into an 6" round tray & bake @ 150C for abt 45mins or till cooked.

糯米饭 Glutinous Rice

2009-10-02T18:00:00.013+08:00

Hubby saw this recipe in d Staits Times & wanted me to give it a try. He even cut up d article & pasted it onto my to-do book (too bad he didnt incld d chef's name). But at 1st glance, I was put off by d long list of ingredients so I never really looked at it again till 2days ago, hubby asked what happened to his 糯米饭. So I decided to take a closer look at d recipe. Only then did I realise that most of d ingredients can be found in my kitchen. I only need to get d glutinous rice! So here goes.
It’s so EASY! I never realised how easy it is to cook 糯米饭 & it’s so tasty! Even Hayden who was recently having bad appetite problem, finished 1½ bowls! YUMMY! So yummy that even though am on diet, I also cant refrain from taking a bowl of it! There goes my diet but to me, it's worth it! ;-p

Serve 2-3 pax
(1) 2cup glutinous rice (soak 1hr, drain & set aside)

(2) Soak till soft, then drained. retained at least 150ml water for later use
¼cup dried shrimp
8-10 pieces dried mushroom, thinly sliced
5-6 pieces dried scallops

(3)
¼cup thinly sliced shallots,
2tsp olive oil

(4) Mix well
1tsp light soya sauce
1tsp sesame oil
1tsp oyster sauce
1tsp sugar
pinch of salt & pepper to taste

(5) Toppings
¼cup roasted peanuts
1 stalk chopped scallion (spring onion)
1 red chopped chilli

Heat up wok, fry (3) till golden brown.
Add (2) & stir-fry abt 5mins.
Add (4) + (1) & stir-fry addl 5mins.
Add water & mix well. Allow rice to cook further 2mins.
Trf rice into bowl & steam abt 30mins or till rice is cooked.
Remove rice & served with toppings.

Dried Tomato Orange loaf

2009-10-02T09:45:00.006+08:00

Am still trying to finish up whatever bal dried pdts I have on hand & went online searching for recipes. Saw this interesting recipe & decided to give it a try. However, made some modification to use up whatever I have on hand. I also blended d dried tomatoes because Hayden don’t like to c bits in his bread.
End result – very moist loaf but cant really taste d tomatoes.

1 1/8 cups buttermilk
28g soften butter
2 tbsp honey
3 cups bread flour
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1 tsp salt
7g active dry yeast
1 orange zest grated
1 cup sweetened dried tomatoes

番茄丝瓜汤 Tomato & loofah soup

2009-10-01T17:37:00.006+08:00

Hayden still has not much appetite so I decided to give this recipe a try. d tomato taste is very strong & it's actually quite ok without adding salt/sugar.
番茄丝瓜汤

材料1
丝瓜 : 300g (去皮, 洗净, 切成滚刀块) Loofah (peeled, washed, cut into chunk)
番茄 : 400g (洗净, 川烫后剥皮, 切块) Tomato (wash, peel away skin after scalding in hot water, then diced)

材料2
黑木耳 : 20g (洗净, 泡软) Black fungus (washed, soaked until soft)

材料 ingredient 3 (拌均) mix well
瘦肉 : 200g (洗净, 切片) Lean meat (washed, sliced)
酱清 : 1 tsp light soya sauce
胡椒粉 : ¼ tsp peper
玉米粉 : 1 tsp corn flour

方法
1) 烧热锅放少量油 (可用橄榄油) 投入材料1翻炒几下
Heat up pot with small amt of olive oil, stir-fry (1)
2) 加入黑木耳略炒一下, 加水适量煮滚
Add (2) & stir-fry few more rd be4 adding 1l water. Bring to boil
3) 加入肉片, 添加盐, 白糖调味, 再滚2分钟, 熄火, 可随意添加少量麻油
Add (3) & boil another 2mins be4 switching off heat. Can also add small amt of sesame oil / salt / sugar if desired.

功能
有健胃消食, 清热润燥的功效 Helps strengthen stomach & digestion system, efficacy in clearing inner heat & moisted inner dryness
天热或食用燥热食物或熬夜时出现口干咽干, 没有胃口,皮肤干燥, 大便硬或不畅等
Suitable to consume during hot weather, or when 1 consumes too much heaty food, or when dry mouth/throat arise due to lots of late nite, or when 1 has no appetite, or dry skin condition, or hard/unsmooth stool, etc..