Tuesday, May 3, 2022 at 10:07 AM
Posted by Vivian in
Pastry
Ingredients:
- 300 gm cake flour
- 13 gm baking powder
- 5 gm baking soda
- 110 gm salted butter (soften)
- 200 gm granulated sugar (separated into 50 gm and 150 gm)
- 2 eggs (yolk and white separated)
- 250 ml buttermilk
- 15 ml (1 tbsp) vanilla extract
Crumble Topping
- 60 gm cake flour or plain flour
- 60 gm granulated sugar
- 3 tbsp of melted butter
Preparation:
- Mix all ingredients for crumble topping together in a bowl using a spoon. Set aside for later use.
- Toss together cake flour, baking soda and baking powder. Set aside the dry ingredient mix.
- Start by whisking egg white on low to medium-low speed until it starts to foam. Increase speed and whip until soft peak. Gradually add 50 gm of sugar to the whipped egg white. Continue whipping and stop before it reaches stiff peak. Set aside.
- Cream butter and remaining 150 gm sugar until colour pales.
- Add in egg yolks. Mix well.
- Drizzle vanilla extract into the mixture.
- Add in a third of the dry ingredient mix and pour in buttermilk. Whisk to combine.
- Continue to mix in the dry ingredient in another 2 batches.
- Fold in whipped egg white.
- Add in other ingredients as desired (blueberry, crush Oreo, chocolate chip etc.)
- Fill muffin cups to 3/4 full.
- Sprinkle with crumble topping.
- Bake at 210 degree Celsius for 5 minutes. Drop the temperature to 190 degree Celsius and bake for a further 15 minutes.
Number of servings: 12 to 14.
Saturday, June 19, 2021 at 4:16 PM
Posted by Vivian in
Bread
Ingredients:
- 240 ml milk
- 35 gm sugar
- 12 gm salt
- 100 gm whole egg
- 8 g instant yeast
- 500 gm bread flour
- 60 gm cold unsalted butter
- Garlic butter spread
Preparation:
- Add all ingredients into mixing bowl, except for butter and garlic spread.
- Mix well with dough hook on low speed for 3 minutes.
- Scrap down sides and continue to knead for 6 to 8 minutes using medium speed. Dough will start to pull from the sides.
- Add in butter and mix on low speed for 3 minutes. Increase speed to medium and knead for 5 minutes. Up to high speed and knead for another 5 minutes. Dough will start to form into a ball shape. If the dough isn't coming together, leave the dough to autolyze for 15 to 20 minutes before attempting to knead again.
- Check on doneness using window pane test.
- Move dough into bowl oiled with olive oil. Cover and let proof for 60 minutes.
- Divide the dough into 2 equal portions.
- Roll one portion of the dough into a rectangular shape (around L40 cm x W20 cm). Spread with generous amount of garlic butter. Using a bench presser, cut the dough down the center along the length side. Divide each half further into 4 pieces, resulting in a total of 8 smaller pieces. Fold each piece into half. Stand the folded dough pieces in a loaf pan (9x5 inches), with the folded side facing downwards and the side with opened seam facing upwards, lining each piece against another.
- Repeat process with the second portion of the unrolled dough to fill a second loaf pan.
- Leave the 2 loaves to proof for an hour.
- Preheat oven and bake at 190 degree Celsius for 35 minutes. Check at 20 minutes mark and tent the loaves if need to to prevent overbrowning. Place loaf pans on dripping pan instead of rack while baking as there is a risk of the garlic butter flowing over.
- Once done and out from oven, spread the top of loaves with more garlic butter while hot.
Number of servings: 2 loaves
at 3:21 PM
Posted by Vivian in
Chinese,
Mushroom
Ingredients:
- 300 gm sea cucumber (pre-soaked and sliced thickly)
- 10 dried mushroom (soaked overnight)
- 2 pieces of scallops (pre-soaked)
- 5 slices of ginger
- 3 gm fatt choy (pre-soaked, snipped a few times to break up the clump)
- 2 stalks of spring onion)
- 1 ltr of chicken stock
- 1 tbsp potato flour mixed with 1 tbsp of water
Seasoning:- 2 tbsp of oyster sauce
- 1 tbsp of light soy sauce
- 1 tsp of sesame oil
- 1 tsp of sugar
- Dash of pepper
- 1 tbsp shaoxing wine
Preparation:
- Heat oil and fry ginger until fragrant.
- Add in mushroom and stir well.
- Add in dried scallops and sea cucumber. Fry for a minute or two.
- Mix in seasoning.
- Pour in chicken stock and let it boil.
- Reduce heat and let simmer for 45 minutes until sea cucumber is slightly softened.
- Add in fatt choy and spring onion.
- Simmer for another 3 to 4 minutes and thicken with potato starch.
Number of servings: 4 to 5
at 3:08 PM
Posted by Vivian in
Chinese,
Noodles
Ingredients:
- Choy sum (cut 1 inch long)
- Chinese parsley (cut into 1 inch long)
- 50 gm dried shrimp (soaked and pounded/minced)
- 12 pieces of tau pok (sliced into 1 inch long)
- 500 gm pork belly (julienned)
- 6 cloves of shallots (minced)
- Heng hwa beehoon (no soaking required)
- 10 pieces of dried mushroom (soaked overnight and julienned)
- 200 ml of water (reserved from soaking of dried shrimp)
- 1.5 ltr of chicken stock (with extra on the side)
(weight of ingredients purely based on estimation.)Preparation:
- Heat oil. Add in shallot, allowing it to brown.
- Add shrimp and mix well.
- Lower heat slightly and add in pork belly.
- Once the pork belly is half cooked, mix in the mushroom, followed by tau pok.
- Add in around 1.5 ltr of chicken stock.
- Mix in choy sum and parsley.
- Season to taste with salt.
- Add bee hoon in batches, allowing the bee hoon to soak up the stock.
- More chicken stock can be added if the mixture is drying before all bee hoon are well cooked.
Number of servings: 10 to 12
Saturday, February 13, 2021 at 10:54 AM
Posted by Vivian in
Pastry
Ingredients:
- 500 gm plain flour
- 1 tbsp of ground cinnamon
- 1 tbsp of ground ginger
- 3/4 tsp of baking soda
- 3/4 tsp of ground cloves
- 1/2 tsp of ground nutmeg
- 1/2 tsp of salt
- 3/4 cup of unsalted butter, softened at room temperature
- 100 gm of brown sugar
- 1 egg
- 1/2 cup of molasses
- 1 1/2 tsp of vanilla extract
- 2 tbsp of olive oil
Simple icing:
- 1/2 cup of icing sugar
- 2 tbsp of milk
- 1/4 tsp of vanilla extract
Preparation:
- Whisk together flour, cinnamon, ginger, baking soda, cloves, salt and nutmeg in a bowl.
- Cream butter and sugar using paddle attachment of stand mixer, for 2 minutes using medium high speed until light and fluffy.
- Add in egg, molasses and vanilla extract and beat on medium speed until well combined.
- Add in flour mixture in 2 to 3 batches and mix on a reduced speed.
- Divide dough into 4 equal portions and form into a ball.
- Gently flatten each ball into a 1-inch thick disk.
- Wrap each disk with cling wrap and refrigerate overnight.
- Allow dough to soften slightly on countertop for around 10 minutes before rolling out.
- Unwrap dough and place on lightly floured parchment paper.
- Dust the top of dough with some flour and cover with another piece of parchment paper.
- Roll using rolling pin until approximately round 0.5 cm in thickness.
- Prepare a plate of flour for "dipping" of cookie cutters, to dust the side of cookie cutters.
- Remove top parchment paper, and cut into desired using cookie cutters. Underside of cutters should be dusted first before each use for easier handling of dough.
- Gently move the shaped dough onto lined baking tray.
- Bake at 160 degree Celcius for 8 to 10 minutes or until the cookies are crisp around the edges.
- Cookies can be decorated after completely cooled.
- For the simple icing, put half of icing sugar in a bowl and add in vanilla extract. Stir till well combined. Gradually add in milk, half tablespoon at a time and mix well before addition as necessary. Depending on the consistency, add sugar or milk to adjust.
at 10:20 AM
Posted by Vivian in
Dessert
Ingredients:
- 250 gm dry split mung beans
- 4 pandan leaves (cut into 3 inches long)
- 16 pandan leaves (tied into a knot)
- 200 gm of sugar
- 6 cups of water
- 2/3 cup of sweet potato flour mixed with 1/3 cup of water
- 2 tbsp of olive oil
Preparation:
- Soak mung beans in water for 2 hours. Drain.
- Spread half of mung beans onto a plate. Top with the loose pandan leaves. Add on remaining beans.
- Steam mung beans over boiling water for 10 minutes. Remove pandan leave from beans once done.
- Put sugar into a pot. Drizzle with 2 tablespoons of water. Cook over medium-high heat. swirling to ensure even browning.
- Once sugar is lightly coloured, lower heat and continue to brown sugar.
- Turn off heat, add 6 cups of water and knotted pandan leaves.
- Turn on heat and bring to boil for 10 minutes.
- Adjust sweetness as necessary.
- Lower heat. Drizzle in sweet potato starch and keep stirring.
- Once the desired consistency is reached, stir in mung beans, taking care not to over cook the beans.
- Serve wth youtiao.
at 9:43 AM
Ingredients:
- 2 kg of baby back pork ribs
- 2 tsp of garlic powder
- 1 tsp of onion powder
- 2 tsp of paprika
- 2 tsp of salt
- 1 teaspoon of grounded black pepper
- 1 tsp of five spice powder
- 2 tbsp of olive oil
Sauce:
- 350 ml of barbeque sauce
- 2 tbsp of minced garlic
- 2 tbsp of olive oil
- 2 to 3 tbsp of honey
Preparation:
- Preheat oven to 180 degree Celcius.
- Place ribs (bone side down) on baking tray lined with aluminium foil.
- Mix together remaining ingredients, except for olive oil in a bowl.
- Sprinkle the seasoning mixture on pork ribs and drizzle with olive oil. Rub seasoning and olive oil all over pork ribs on both sides.
- Cover tray with foil and bake for 2 hours.
- Mix together sauce ingredients.
- Take ribs out from oven after 2 hours of baking, remove top foil and spread sauce mixture on the top of the ribs.
- Up the oven temperature to 220 degree Celcius and return ribs to oven uncovered.
- Bake for 10 mins.
- Allow ribs to sit for at least 10 minutes after baking before slicing to allow juices to recirculate back into the meat.
at 9:17 AM
Posted by Vivian in
Pastry
Ingredients:
- 150 gm Golden Churn brand salted butter (soften at room temperature)
- 30 gm icing sugar
- 95gm plain flour
- 75 gm corn flour
Preparation:
- Cream butter and icing sugar.
- Fold in sifted plain flour and corn flour and mix well with spatula.
- Pipe on to baking sheet.
- Bake at 160 degree Celcius for 25 min or until slightly golden
Sunday, December 20, 2020 at 4:33 PM
Posted by Vivian in
Dessert
Ingredients:
- 1 litter of whipping cream
- 1 can of condensed milk (chilled)
- 1 teaspoon of vanilla extract
Preparation:
- Fit stand mixer with whisk attachment.
- Whip whipping cream until soft peaks form.
- Turn off mixer and pour in condensed milk.
- Whisk till mixture is thick and stiff peaks form.
- Turn off mixer and stir in vanilla extract.
- Transfer mixture into container and freeze, or use as base to add in other ingredients as needed depending on flavours.
Flavour Options:
Blueberry Cheesecake
- Boil half cup of blueberry with around three tablespoons of water and 2 tablespoons of sugar. Berries will start to burst and thicken into sauce. Strain to remove seeds and skin. Set aside to cool.
- Pulse soften cream cheese block using blender or chopper to break up lumps.
- Fold cream cheese into ice-cream mixture.
- Transfer mixture into container in batches, swirling in blueberry sauce in-between.
OREO Cheesecake
- Break 15 to 20 pieces of OREO cookies into bits.
- Pulse soften cream cheese block using blender or chopper to break up lumps.
- Fold cream cheese and OREO bits into ice-cream mixture.
Coffee
- Prepare 300ml of concentrated black coffee. Set aside to cool
- Chop nuts into small pieces (walnut, almond etc)
- Fold coffee and chopped nuts into ice-cream mixture.
at 4:00 PM
Posted by Vivian in
Bread
Ingredients:
Starter
- 200gm bread flour
- 1 cup of water
- 1/4 teaspoon yeast
Ciabatta Dough
- 350gm bread flour
- 1 cup of water
- 1 1/2 teaspoons of salt
Preparation:
- Mix ingredients for starter dough with a wooden spoon or spatula until free of lumps.
- Cover and let it sit for 8 to 12 hours on countertop, or up to 24 hours in fridge.
- Transfer starter dough to stand mixer's mixing bowl.
- Add 1 cup of water, 350gm bread flour and salt. Mix with paddle attachment, first at low speed for a minute and at higher speed for another 4 minutes until the dough starts to pull from sides of mixing bowl.
- Prepare a large bowl and coat sides with some olive oil.
- Transfer dough to bowl and cover. Let dough proof for 45 mins to an hour.
- Use a well-greased scrapper, gently fold dough over onto itself and let it rise for another 45 minutes. Repeat process once more.
- Prepare a square cake pan and line with two separate pieces of parchment paper (folded with four standing sides) forming two separate rectangular sections.
- Flour work surface and slide dough out of bowl onto work surface gently.
- Divide dough into 2 equal portions and shape into loaves using bench scrapers.
- Transfer dough into parchment paper. Cover and let dough rest for 20 minutes.
- Heat oven to 200 degree Celcius.
- Bake for 30 minutes until golden brown.
- Slice after the bread has completely cooled down.
Friday, July 17, 2020 at 4:46 PM
Posted by Vivian in
Bread,
Italian
Ingredients:
- 500gm bread flour
- 1 heaped tablespoon semolina
- 15gm active yeast
- 50ml olive oil
- Salt
- Leaves from 2 to 3 rosemary sprigs
Preparation:- Add flour, semolina, yeast and generous pinches of salt in stand mixer’s mixing bowl.
- Mix 320 ml of warm water with olive oil.
- Gradually add water and olive oil mixture to dry ingredients while mixing with a dough hook.
- Knead till dough is smooth, elastic and springy to touch (around 10 minutes).
- Leave dough in a floured mixing bowl/container to proof for 30 to 60 minutes until double in size (or 18 to 24 hours overnight in fridge, and if dough was kept overnight in fridge, it needs to be placed on counter for around 2 hours to be soften and back up to room temperature before proceeding to next step).
- Line and oil baking tray or dish (around 28cm x 20cm). Transfer risen dough to tray and prod out dough to edges of tray with well oiled fingers. Leave dough to proof for 30 minutes.
- Drizzle olive oil over dough and using tip of fingers, poke dough all over creating dimples.
- Mix rosemary leaves with a little bit of olive oil and scatter all over dough. Season with salt and drizzle with a little more olive oil. Can be replaced with other toppings including parmesan, olives, sunblush tomatoes, salt flakes or oregano.
- Allow dough to sit for another 20 mins.
- Preheat oven to 200 degree Celcius (or 190 degree Celcius depending on the oven).
- Bake for 30 minutes until golden brown and crispy (may need to tent or reduce to 180 degree Celcius at the last 10 minutes to prevent it from browning too much).
- Leave to rest for at least 10 minutes before cutting.
(Alternative method with starter dough)
Ingredients:
Starter (Poolish)
- 200gm bread flour
- 200ml water
- 1/4 teaspoon active yeast
Focaccia Dough
- 300gm bread flour
- 120ml water (can be increased to 160ml for a higher hydration dough)
- 1 heaped tablespoon semolina
- 1 teaspoon active yeast
- Olive oil
- Salt
Preparation:
- Mix ingredients for starter dough in a large bowl and whisk with a wooden spoon or spatula.
- Cover starter dough and leave on counter in room temperature between 8 to 12 hours. If starter dough is to be used the next day, it can be stored in fridge overnight but will need to be brought back up to room temperature before use (around 1 to 2 hours).
- Dissolve 1 tsp yeast in 120ml water in stand mixer’s mixing bowl.
- Add starter dough, remaining flour, semolina and mix with dough hook. Start at low speed to prevent flour with flying. Increase to high speed and mix for around 8 minutes until the dough starts to pull away from the sides.
- Mix 1 tablespoon of salt with 1 tablespoon of olive oil. Add into dough
- Knead for another 3 to 5 minutes until the dough forms into a ball shape.
- Move dough over to a lightly greased bowl/container. Cover and let it proof for an hour.
- Line baking tray or dish (around 28cm x 20cm). Transfer risen dough to tray and prod out dough to edges of tray with well oiled fingers. Leave dough to proof for another 30 minutes.
- Drizzle 1 tablespoon of olive oil over dough and using tip of fingers, poke dough all over creating dimples.
- Other toppings can be added at this point
- Allow dough to sit for another 20 mins.
- Preheat oven to 200 degree Celcius (or 190 degree Celcius depending on the oven).
- Bake for 30 minutes until golden brown and crispy (may need to tent or reduce to 180 degree Celcius at the last 10 minutes to prevent it from browning too much).
- Leave to rest for at least 10 minutes before cutting.
Other tips:
- Olive oil can be infused with some rosemary leaves a day before use for added flavour.
- Dried herbs to be added to dough instead as topping to prevent drying out while in oven.
- Powdered garlic can be added to dough during last stage of kneading.
at 4:00 PM
Posted by Vivian in
Pork,
Rice
Ingredients:
- 2 cups of jasmine white rice
- 500 gram of pork belly (sliced to 0.5 cm thick)
- 8 pieces of dried mushroom (soaked till soft and sliced to 1 cm width)
- 1/2 of round cabbage (sliced to 1 cm thick)
- 2 to 3 tablespoons of dried shrimp (soaked till soft and diced)
- Shallots (diced)
- Garlic (diced)
- Light soy sauce
- Dark soy sauce
- Sesame oil
Preparation:- Marinate pork belly with light soy sauce and dark soy sauce overnight.
- Wash rice and add to rice cooker. Pour in sufficient water based on marking alongside rice cooker pot. Sieve out rice and reserve the water for later use.
- Stir fry shallot and garlic till fragrant and add in dried shrimp.
- Mix in pork belly and stir well to cook.
- Add in cabbage and season with light soy sauce and sesame oil.
- Put rice into mixture and drizzle with some dark soy sauce. Stir well to ensure rice is well coated with dark soy sauce.
- Transfer mixture into rice cooker and pour in water that was set aside.
- Leave mixture to cook in rice cooker for 45 to 50 minutes.
- Set rice cooker to cook function again for another 10 to 15 minutes if rice has yet to fully cook after the first round.
Sunday, May 17, 2020 at 3:32 PM
Posted by Vivian in
Beef,
Italian,
Pasta
Ingredients:
- 1 tablespoon vegetable oil
- 4 tablespoons butter
- 1/2 cup chopped onion
- 2/3 cup chopped celery
- 2/3 cup chopped carrot
- 1 pound ground beef (around 500 gm)
- Salt
- Fresh ground black pepper
- 1 cup whole milk
- Grounded nutmeg
- 1/2 cup dry white wine
- 1-½ cups canned plum tomatoes, torn into pieces, with juice
- 1-¼ to 1-½ pounds pasta (preferably spaghetti), cooked and drained
- Grated Parmesan
Preparation:
- Heat oil with 3 tablespoons of butter and chopped onion in pot over medium heat.
- Cook and stir onion until it has become translucent, then add chopped celery and carrot. Cook for about 2 minutes, stirring vegetables to coat well.
- Add ground beef, a large pinch of salt and a few grindings of black pepper. Crumble meat with a fork, stir well and cook until beef has lost its raw, red colour.
- Add milk and let simmer gently, stirring frequently, until it has bubbled away completely.
- Add a tiny grating, about 1/8 teaspoon of nutmeg and stir.
- Add wine and let it simmer until it has evaporated.
- Add tomatoes and stir thoroughly to coat all ingredients well. When tomatoes begin to bubble, turn heat down and let simmer.
- Cook sauce uncovered for 3 hours or more, stirring from time to time. While sauce is cooking, it will begin to dry out and the fat will separate from the meat. Add ½ cup water as necessary. At the end of cooking, the water should be completely evaporated and the fat should separate from the sauce.
- Taste and correct for salt.
- Add remaining tablespoon butter to the hot pasta and toss with the sauce.
- Serve with grated Parmesan on the side.
Friday, May 29, 2015 at 4:18 PM
Posted by Vivian in
Miso,
Scallop
Adapted from original recipe found
here.
Ingredients:
- 12 to 15 large-sized scallops
- 1 tablespoon butter
- 2 tablespoons mirin
- 1 teaspoon light soy sauce
- 1 tablespoon miso paste
- 3 to 4 tablespoons of water
Preparation:
- Mix all ingredients together (except scallops) and set aside the sauce for later use.
- Heat oil in non-stick frying pan and brown scallops over medium heat for about 1 on each side.
- Remove scallops from pan and set aside.
- Add sauce into the same pan and allow sauce to simmer.
- Return scallops into pan and combine well with sauce.
- Allow scallops to cook for another 1 to 2 minutes.
- Garnish with toasted sesame seeds and spring onions if desired before serving.
Tuesday, February 10, 2015 at 2:03 PM
Posted by Vivian in
Chinese,
Pork
One of my favourite dish and had been thinking of trying my hands on it for a long time now.
“Research” has thrown up very varied recipes. Not surprising since it does often look and taste a little different even at various restaurants and eating places. I did a mash of what I think might work.
Putting this down for reference for now. The taste department got a tick but the meat wasn’t crispy enough in my opinion. Need to try and coat the pieces individually with corn flour and plain flour rather than mixing the flour in and see if it works better.
Ingredients:
- 500gm Pork Collar (cut into bite-size cubes)
- ½ onion (cut into cubes)
- 1 tomato (seeds removed and cut into cubes)
- 1 mid-size capsicum (seeds and stem removed and cut into cubes)
- 3 to 4 slices of canned pineapple (cut into wedges)
Marinate:
- 1/3 teaspoon baking soda
- 2 tablespoons light soy sauce
- A dash of white pepper
- ½ tablespoon Chinese cooking wine
- 2 eggs
- 3 tablespoons corn flour
Sauce:
- 1½ tablespoons white vinegar
- 2½ tablespoons tomato sauce
- 4½ tablespoons sugar
- 1 tablespoon light soya sauce
- ½ tablespoon sesame oil
- 2 to 3 tablespoons syrup from canned pineapple
Thickener:
- 2 leveled tablespoons of potato flour
- 150 ml of water
Preparation:
- Mix marinating ingredients except corn flour to pork. Add in corn flour thereafter and leave to marinade for at least 1 hour.
- Deep fry pork in batches until golden brown. Set aside to drain off excess oil.
- Heat oil in work and stir fry onion. Add in capsicum when onion starts to turn translucent.
- Stir in pineapple and tomato when capsicum is almost cooked, and leave the mixture to cook slightly.
- Pour in sauce mixture and stir to combine.
- Turn the heat down and add in thickener.
- Leave to simmer until the sauce thickens.
- Serve over rice.
Number of Servings: 4 to 5 pax
Wednesday, November 12, 2014 at 6:41 PM
Posted by Vivian in
Egg,
Vegetable
妹妹爱吃的蛋抄四季豆。
妈妈的家常菜。
也是和我童年紧紧挂钩的一道“家”肴。
十岁的我就已在妈妈的厨房打转。
洗菜，切肉。。。葱，蒜，油，米的日子是幼年的回忆。
既是只是厨房里的小角， 没有做大厨的份，也算得上是一种学习经验。
经过了岁月的磨练，换来了讯速熟练的刀法。
细细长长 的“乌龟豆”不在需要恼人的耐心。
“咚”“咚”“咚” 锋利的刀子敲打着砧版的节奏， 钩起了那份记忆。
简单不起眼的一道菜却能带来许多的回味。
Ingredients:
200gm French beans (ends removed and thinly sliced diagonally)
1 egg (beaten and seasoned slightly with light soy sauce)
2 cloves of garlic (minced)
150 ml of water
Salt and light soy sauce for seasoning
Preparation:
Heat wok with some oil and add in garlic.
Stir-fry French beans in wok and add in water when the beans are half-cooked.
Season with some salt and stir to mix well.
Let the beans continue to simmer in the water.
Once the beans are cooked to the desired tenderness, pour in the egg and stir to combine.
Turn off the heat when the egg sets and serve with rice.
Number of Servings: 3 to 4
Thursday, November 6, 2014 at 6:57 PM
Posted by Vivian in
Chicken
I am certain that I am not just the only person in this whole wide world that is guilty of having no self-restrain when it comes to buying and collecting cookbooks, but do nothing with it after lugging the book home. Plus with connectivity to the cyberworld, there is no lack of resources when searching for “the recipe” and thus compounding to the problem further.
Of course once it while, the cookbooks do get their chance to take a breather outside of the bookcase and serve their purpose.
Here’s one recipe that was adapted from Kylie Kwong. It is a fuss free recipe yet not compromising on the flavor, and ingredients are always readily available in a typical Chinese kitchen.
Ingredients:
-
600 gm chicken fillet (or pork fillet as per the original recipe), alternatively chicken thigh de-boned with skin removed (sliced)
- 4 to 5 dried shitake mushroom (pre-soaked and sliced to 1 cm thick)
-
3 garlic cloves (minced)
-
¼ cup hoisin sauce
-
2 tablespoons malt vinegar
-
2 tablespoons shao hsing wine
-
1 tablespoon light soy sauce
-
2 teaspoons white sugar
-
1 teaspoon five-spice powder
-
1 teaspoon sesame oil
-
½ teaspoon salt
-
Some spring onion for garnishing
(diced or sliced diagonally)
Preparation:
-
Marinade meat for at least 30 minutes with all ingredients except spring onion and reserving some garlic to be used later.
-
Heat wok with 2 tablespoons of oil and stir-fry marinated meat until just cooked.
- Add in another tablespoon of light soy sauce if desired and give it a quick stir to mix well.
- Garnish with spring onion and serve with rice.
Number of Servings: 3 to 4
Monday, October 27, 2014 at 6:52 PM
Posted by Vivian in
Chicken,
Mushroom,
Rice
Ingredients:
- 4 chicken thigh (skin removed and cut into cubes)
- 1 can of button mushrooms (diced)
- 3 to 4 florets of broccoli (cut into smaller florets)
- 2 cups of short grain / Japanese rice (based on measuring cup for rice cooker)
- 3 to 5 cloves of garlic (skin removed)
- Chicken stock
- Grated mozzarella cheese
- 1 can of Campbell cream of mushroom soup
- Salt
- Black pepper
- Butter
- 1 tablespoon cooking Sake
- Parsley flakes
Preparation:
- Wash rice till water runs clear and pour rice into rice cooker.
- Add chicken stock till slightly below water level as indicated on rice cooker for 2 cups of rice.
- Melt butter in pan and par-cook chicken with mushroom. Season with salt, black pepper, and Sake. Give a quick stir and turn off the heat, ensuring that chicken remains partially cooked.
- Transfer chicken and mushroom into rice cooker and mix well with rice. Top with garlic and set the rice to cook.
- In the meantime, boil broccoli over a pot of boiling water and season with some salt. Remove broccoli and drain off excess water. Set aside for later use.
- Once the rice is cooked, remove garlic.
- Add in broccoli to rice and stir to combine.
- Scoop rice into baking dish, spread the top evenly with cream of mushroom soup, followed by mozzarella cheese.
- Sprinkle with parsley flakes.
- Bake in oven at 200 degree Celsius on top rack until the top turns golden brown.
Number of Servings: 4
Sunday, October 19, 2014 at 3:26 PM
Posted by Vivian in
Beef,
Chicken,
Potatoes
“Burger” - synonym of “fast food” is what we usually grab when in a rush or when in need of a quick fix. But not when burgers and fries are served at home. I was dubbed as “Burger Queen” by the kids some time ago and I quietly believe it is because this is the only “burger outlet” that serves up enough fries in one go to satisfy their craving for shoestring fries. The burger is really only secondary to them.
Nonetheless, I try to jazz up the burger in whatever possible way I can because I just cannot face the fact that I am serving the family an unhealthy meal and one without much thought being put in. Since there is nothing much I can do about the calories, salt and fats level, I try to at least put more effort into the other aspect. Over a period of time, there is now a set way I go about making the burger a little different and not just one with a patty in between a bun.
While the children felt that the burgers and fries are good enough for a restaurant standard, I wonder which paying customer will have the patience to wait 2 hours for the food to be served no matter how good it is.
Beef burger:
Onions – Cut onion cross-sectional (about 1 cm thick) and separate into individual rings. Reserve the inner rings for making mushroom sauce as these tend to be smaller. Melt a knob of salted butter in a non-stick pan and brown both sides of the sliced onions.
Mushroom sauce – Dice up reserved onions and 2 to 3 Swiss Brown mushrooms. Melt a knob of salted butter in a pan, stir-fry onions till translucent and add in mushrooms. When cooked, stir in 1 leveled tablespoon of plain flour. Lastly pour in 150 ml of chicken stock and let simmer till the sauce thickens.
Beef patty – Mix salt, black pepper and grounded thyme in a small bowl. Sprinkle over both sides of beef patty before grilling.
(The beef burger is usually topped with mushroom sauce, onion rings (if desired), sliced cheese and a squirt of ketchup before sinking in the teeth.)
Breaded Chicken burger:
Mayonnaise sauce – Remove skin and seeds from cucumber, and finely dice about one third of the cucumber. Remainder of the cucumber can be cut into 1-inch sticks and served as a side. Mix real mayonnaise and Japanese mayonnaise (in the ratio of 1:1) with cucumber. Japanese mayonnaise tend to have a smoother consistency but slightly sweeter. Mixing both types of mayonnaise together yields a better flavoured and smoother paste. 1 to 2 teaspoon of lime or lemon juice can be added for an extra tangy kick.
(Mayonnaise sauce pairs well with breaded chicken patty.)
Burger Bun:
Fries:
Monday, September 22, 2014 at 7:15 PM
Posted by Vivian in
Breakfast,
Snacks
Original recipe from Donna Hay. Portions reduced to make 6 muffins.
Ingredients:
1½ cup self-raising floor (sifted)
½ teaspoon baking powder
100 gm grated cheddar cheese
75 gm ham or sausage (diced)
75 gm pineapple (diced)
Parsley flakes
80 ml cooking oil
1 leveled tablespoon of tomato paste
2 medium-sized eggs
125 ml milk
Preparation:
Preheat oven to 180 degree-Celsius.
Reserving some cheese for later use, mix flour, baking powder, balance cheese, ham and pineapple in a bowl.
Whisk oil, tomato paste, egg and milk in a separate bowl.
Add egg mixture to flour mixture and mix well to combine.
Spoon mixture into 6 X ½ cup-capacity muffin tins and sprinkle with remaining cheese and parsley flakes.
Bake for 30 minutes.
Number of Servings: 6
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