Mushroom Stuffed Tofu Florets

I almost forgot about my fried tofu i bought recently. The little guys were sitting in my fridge for almost a week when my eyes caught a glimpse of them while looking for my greens. I know i've to grab them now or say goodbye till meet some other time. Instead of dumping them into main dish or curry noodles, decided to make snack out of it....


Ingredients:

1 packet fried tofu (the one use in curry mee)
1 bunch of oyster/inoki mushroom(chopped)
5 tbsp frozen corn kernels
1 carrot (chopped)
1 onion (chopped)
2 cloves of garlic (chopped)
few springs of chives(spring onion chopped)
Salt to taste
Oil for frying


Methods:

1. Cut an 'X' on top of each dried tofu with a scissors. Remove the extra tofu flesh from the inside of the tofu & set aside.

2. With your both thumbs, gently push out the inner part of tofu to resemble the shape of flower.

3. Meanwhile, in a frying pan, heat 2 tbsp of oil & add in the onion & garlic. Fry for 1 min before adding in mushroom,corn kernels,carrot & the flesh of tofu that has seen set aside. Fry till the carrot become soft before adding in chives. Salt to taste.

4. Stuff the mixture into the tofu florets & deep fry till golden brown

A good vegetarian snack rich in protein is ready to be served.

Japanese Cotton Cheeseckae

This is not the first time i'm baking cheesecake. Prior to blogging i have baked cheesecake before but baking fluffy smooth and airy cheeselike like this one is definitely my first trial. I'm happy it turns out well on first trial itself. Effort put on with the do and don't in handling with this special cake indeed challenging but, trust me it paid off well in the end...especially the eating part of course.

I can't control myself with the cake waiting hour. I could imagine the smooth and fluffy texture i'm gonna dig in soon. Likewise, other baking goodies the waiting time always test my patient. I can wait for the cake to bake for more than hour but not once it comes out of the oven. What to do, it's my impatient should be blamed off...


Ingredients

1/2 cup confectionery sugar/castor sugar
4 egg yolks
4 egg whites
3/4 cream of tartar
4 tbsp butter
200g cream cheese
3/4 cup fresh milk/full cream milk
3/4 cup cake flour/wheat flour
2 tbsp corn flour
1/2 salt


Methods:

Lightly butter and line the bottom and sides of a 9' inch springform cake pan with baking baking paper. Butter the bottom & sides of the baking paper as well

Melt cream cheese , butter and milk over a double boiler. Set aside to cool. Fold in flour,salt,cornflour,egg yolks and mix well. Sieve the mixture to get a smooth batter.

                            * The melted cream cheese should cool off completely before adding the eggs and flour

Whisk the egg white with cream of tartar on high speed till foamy. Add in the sugar and whisk at low speed till soft peaks form. The speed adjustment is very important to maintain the air bubbles. The more air created will make the more airy spongy cake.

*this is exactly what we are  looking for. You know it's done when you can see a soft peak

Add in the egg whites to the cream cheese batter. Lightly fold in to mix the batter, do not over mix as it might tend to break the air bubbles. be very gentle with the folding process. Pour into the cake pan.

Pour piping hot water into a deep baking tray and place the cake tin into it. Make sure the boiling water covers 1/2 inch of your cake pan. Cover the top of cake pan with aluminium foil to avoid too much browning on top.

Bake the cake in the middle of tray of your baking oven at 160' cel for 1 hr. Remove the aluminium foil and bake for another 10 mins to get the nice golden brown top

Leave to cool in oven with door slightly ajar, for 1 hr. Sudden changes in temperatures may cause the cake to collapse. (Now you know why it is impossible for me to wait..i don't have that much patient. Yet, i'm left with no choice) After 1 hr remove from oven and enjoy your hard labour

Notes:

• Its very important to sieve your batter to avoid lumps. This determine your cake texture to stand for it's smooth cheesecake

• During the egg whites beating process, beat at high till foamy. Once sugar has been added beat at low speed to allow as much as air bubbles to form. The more air created the more light and fluffy your cake will be

• Lining the sides and bottom of the cake tin is important so that your cake will rise evenly. Take note to extend the baking paper 1/2 inches higher than your cake tin, this is to avoid spillage during the cake rising in the oven. There is no compromise on this process. It will make it easier to lift your cake from the cake tin once it has been baked

• Tenting the cake tin with foil is another important step. Without the aluminium foil covering you will end up with burnt cake. The foil prevent from over browning. Remove the foil in the last 10 mins into baking to get a beautiful golden brown top 

• When the recepi call for piping hot water it is piping hot not the warm or lukewarm water. Reason for placing the cake in a deep bottom baking tray and pour with hot water is to create a steambath which allows the water to evaporate and give an effect of steam bake cheesecake.

• No one says this but just a gentle reminder. Whenever you are working closely with oven, drink plenty of water. Oven temperature tend to make us dehyderate. Always keep yourself hyderate because in the end of baking a gorgeous cake like this we don't want to end up looking like maid aren't we? Present yourself as a domestic diva with beautiful cake on your side

Sausage & Egg Bread

My elder daughter Lekshana were running late for her saturday tuition class. Thanks to her wrong timetable schedule. While she's in shower mom have to think for a fast & easy saturday breakfast. Cereals is a BIG NO for weekend breakfast. weekend breakfast must be BIG. Here goes mom cracking her head what to do with yesterday's left over bread. Combination of egg & sausages with a cheese on top click my mind. Headed to fridge to grab the ingredients & preheat the oven for a fabulous breast amma's way.


Ingredients:

6 stale breads
4 eggs
2 tbsp grated parmesan cheese or cheddar slices (torn to small pieces)
3 pcs sausages
2 tbsp tsp oil
1 tbsp chives(spring onion)
3 tbsp butter
pinch of salt
pinch of pepper


Methods:

1.Cut the sausages into small pieces & fry for 1 min

2.Preheat the oven at 180' cel & butter a muffin tray

3..Flatten the bread with a rolling pin & lightly butter them

4. Fit the bread into the muffin tray & add the sausages

5. Crack the eggs, add a pinch of salt, pepper & whisk

6. Fill the bread with the egg mixture & sprinkle the cheese on top

7. Bake for 15-20 mins till the egg is done & the cheese melted

8. Sprinkle with chives before serving

Lekshana love her breakfast. She brought it to her tuition & it was a super duper hit with her friends. Feel good to feed little souls with good & healthy breakfast. Thinking what for next week......

* Let it cool before dig in as the egg & cheese still piping hot fresh from the oven

Butter Prawn

Whenever i see prawns, butter prawn is the first thing that will come into my mind. Mainly because this dish is easy to make and requires a very few ingredients which means easy to your pocket too. Easy recepi doesn't means its not tricky one. The trickiest part about this butter prawn is creating the egg floss. I should say my first attempt with the egg went wrong but i keep on trying to improve and landed with this version.


Ingredients:

1 kg prawns (deveined)
9 tbsp butter
2 stalks curry leaves
2 tbsp minced garlic
4 egg yolks (lightly beaten)
3 bird eyes chillies (thinly sliced)


Methods:

1. Heat 3 tbsp butter and fry prawn till cooked

2. Set aside. Add in another 6 tbsp butter into the remaining ones, heat it up

3. Add in the curry leaves and stir 1 minutes then add minced garlic

4. Pour in egg yolks into the wok at a high point slowly but consistently and with other hand keep stirring the yolks vigorously.

6. Add in back the cooked prawn into the yolk mixture, stir for 1 minute.

7. Ready to serve

Baby Shower Chocolate Cupcakes

I made this cupcakes for my best friend's baby shower. Love to hear to all those positive feedback i received for this beauties. After all desserts is here to celebrate...


Ingredients:


For the ganache

1/2 cup cooking chocolate
1/4 cup heavy cream
1 tbsp confectionery sugar


For the cupcakes

3/4 cup cooking chocolate
1/3 cocoa powder
3/4 cup all purpose flour
3/4 granulated white sugar
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 baking powder
6 tbsp vegetable oil
2 eggs (room temperature)
1 tsp vanilla extract
3/4 hot water


Methods:

For the ganache: Place the chopped chocolate, cream and powdered sugar in a bowl and heat in a microwave on high for 20-30 seconds. Whisk till smooth.

For the cupcakes: Preheat oven to 180 degree cel. Line the the muffin pan with cupcakes liners. Place the chopped chocolate & cocoa powder in a bowl. Pour in hot water into the mixture and whisk till no lumps. Refrigerate for 20 mins

Meanwhile, sieve the flour together with salt & baking soda. Add in sugar and set aside.

Whisk the oil, eggs and vanilla essence into the cooled chocolate mixture until smooth.

Divide the batter evenly between the muffin pan cups. Bake the cupcakes for 15-17 minutes. Cool the cupcakes on a wire rack to completely cool.

Once cool, dip the cupcakes in the chocolate ganache till fully covered the surface of the cakes. Decorate with your choice of cupcakes decorations

*This just one of the way to make chocolate cupcakes. There are 1001 ways to make a good chocolate cuppies. Will share more in the coming post

Butter Tarts

Butter tarts is originated from Canada. i always buy pecan nuts from my baking store. Pecans are the must have nut in my fridge. Looking at those nuts, butter tarts is what comes to my mind. An excuse for me to empty the nuts and buy a new stock...he...he...he...



Ingredients: 

For pastry

1 1/4 cups all purpose flour
1/2 tsp salt
1 tablespoon granulated white sugar
1/2 cup butter (chilled & cut into small pieces)
1/4 cup ice water

For filling

1/3 cup butter (softened)
1 cup brown sugar
2 eggs
1tsp vanilla essence
1/4 cream
1/2 cup pecan nuts (toasted & chopped)


Methods:

Pastry: In a electrical mixer place the flour, sugar and salt. Mix the 3 ingredients combined. Add butter and mix till the mixture resembles coarse meal. Add ice water till the dough just hold together when pinched.

Transfer the dough onto your work surface and shape into a ball. Flatten into a disk, cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate for about 1 hour.

After an hour, place on a floured surface to roll the dough. Cut in 10 cm rounds. Place the rounds into a 12 -cup muffin tin. Cover and refrigerate for 30 mins to firm up the dough.

Fillng: In a bowl of electrical mixer, cream the butter and sugar. Add in the eggs one at a time, then vanilla essence. Switched off your mixer and stir in the cream. Place the pecan nuts in the bottom of the tart shells and pour in the filling. Bake at 190 degrees cel for 15-20 mins. Remove from oven and place on wire rack to cool.

Your flaky buttery sinful tart is ready to consume. Enjoy guys

Nyonya style pumpkin sago dessert

During my usual sunday marketing, a vibrant yellow pumpkin caught my eyes. My impulse buying works on time & here i am bought the pumpkin home without knowing what am i going to do with it. Whenever we have pumpkin in the house, the first thing i do is to stir fry them. This time that's not what gonna happen. Decided to make dessert with those gorgeous beauties & here i am with my pumpkin sago dessert nyonya style...


Ingredients:

1 ripe pumpkin (diced)
1 cup of water (for blending pumpkin)
2 pandan leaves (tie knot)
1 1/2 cup thick coconut milk
1 cup sago pearls
3/4 tsp salt
1/2 granulated white sugar


Methods:

1. Boil water in a pot, pour in sago pearls. Cook for 10-15 mins over high flame. The pearls are cooked when it becomes transparent. Run cooked sago through a sieve in running water to prevent it from sticking with each other.

2. Blend diced pumpkin with 1 cup of water in a blender till creamy. Pour pumpkin puree into a large pot & bring it to boil. Add in knotted pandan leaves,sugar,salt & stir till the sugar dissolve. Low the flame to medium & add coconut milk. Finally, add the cooked sago & serve hot or chill.


Notes:
* Its important to cook the coconut milk in a low flame so that the milk won't get separated.
* Granulated white sugar can be replaced with palm sugar or rock sugar.
*If the puree to thick you can add more water to compliment your taste

Fettucine meatball

Pasta is my household's favorite dish. I never go wrong with my pasta dishes. It's a hit with my kids anytime anywhere. Pasta comes in so many varieties & shapes. Fettucine,spaghetti,couscous,to name a few.What i like most in pasta is, it's versatility. The trickiest part of cooking pasta is, it's density. Always cook your pasta "al dente" which means firm to a bite. Trust me, an overcooked pasta is your worst nightmare.


Ingredients:

For meatballs

500g minced chicken(available in all hypermarket or you can mince chicken breast)
1 onion
1 stalk chives
1 tbsp chopped cilantro leaves
1 egg (whisked)
salt & pepper to taste
2 tbsp flour
oil for deep frying


For pasta:

1 packet pasta of your choice
1 tsp butter
1 tbsp olive oil or any vegetable oil
pinch of salt


For tomato sauce:

1 can Prego's or pasta sauce of your choice (strictly bolognese sauce)
1 onion (finely chopped)
2 cloves garlic (crushed)
Grated parmesan or crumble goat cheese
1 cup brocolli (boiled)
1 tbsp oilve oil/vegetable oil
salt & pepper to taste


Methods:


1. In a large clean bowl, mix all the meatball ingredients till well blended & rest it for 15 mins. Shape the mixture to a medium size balls. Heat a frying pan with oil & deep fry the meatballs in batches till golden brown.


2.In a deep heavy bottom pan, boil water with pinch of salt & butter. Drop in the pasta & boil accordingly to the timing  instruction on the packet. Once pasta is " la dente", toss it into strainer & let it cool in a running tap water for few seconds. Toss & add 1 teaspoon butter /& mix with the pasta well. This is to prevent from the pasta being stick together

3. In a frying pan, pour in olive oil & sautee the onion. Once the onion wilted, add the crushed garlic. Add the pasta sauce & meatballs let it simmer in a medium flame for 7-8 mins with occasional stirring. As the bottled pasta sauce has a great flavour of italian herbs(oregano,basil,thyme,rosemary) its not necessary to add more flavours.

4. Spoon out your cooked pasta in a serving plate, drizzle with the pasta sauce & meatballs.Top up with boiled broccoli & generous amount of grated parmesan cheese or crumble goat cheese. Your Italian meatball pasta is ready to enjoy




Notes: If the bottled pasta sauce too thick, add a little water to loosen it up. If the sauce too tangy, \ a dash of sugar to the sauce while simmering will do the tricks

Corned chicken patties

Chicken patties goes well with spice rice. They complement each other well. The best part of making this chicken patties is, you can save a tremendous amount of time for cleaning & mincing chicken meat. You can find canned corned chicken in any major hypermaket. Grab 1 and you are good to go....


Ingredients

1 can corned chicken
1 red onion (chopped finely)
2 green chillies (chopped finely)
handful of chopped cilantro(coriander leaves)
handful of chopped chives(spring onion)
1 egg(whisked)
1 tsp freshly grounded pepper
2 tbsp flour
salt to taste

Methods:

1. In a clean large bowl, mash the corned chicken.

2. Add chopped onion,green chillies,cilanto leaves &,chives. Add in the whisked egg & gradually mix in flour. Sprinkle with salt & pepper. Mix all till well blended.

4.Heat oil in a frying pan & shallow fry the patties till golden brown over a medium flame

5. Toss excess oil on a kitchen paper & serve.

Spice rice

Instead of making ordinary steam white rice, thought of playing with food coluring & add more flavours to make it something special. Rice are versatile in it's own. It absorp all the flavours you add into. I always look out for grainy & fluffy rice on my plate. Over cooked rice is my worse nightmare. Ready for fluffiness? Here you go....

Ingredients:

3 cups rice 

4 1/2 cups water

2 screwpine leaves(pandan leaves)

1 white onion

2 inch cinnamon stick

1 star anise

2 cloves

2 cardamom pods

3 tbsp ghee

salt to taste

few dots of food coluring (preferably yellow or red)

handful ghee fried cashew nuts

Methods:

1.Wash rice & toss aside

2. Over a medium fire, place a heavy bottom pan & melt 2 tbsp ghee. Add cinnamon stick,star anise,cardamom pods & cloves

3. Add the onion & screwpine leaves. Fry till wilted & add in the rice.

4. Fry the rice for 2 mins & transfer to the rice cooker pan. 

5. Add water & salt. Stir till all the ingredients to mix together & cook in a rice cooker 

6. Meanwhile, place a frying pan. Melt 1 tbsp ghee & fry the cashews.

7. Once rice cooked, add in the food coluring & stir with a fork to spread the colur evenly.

8.Before serving, sprinkle with cashews.

Important notes: Water ratio for rice is 1:1.5. 1 cup rice requires 1 1/2 cup water. For basmathi or long grain rice, read the water ratio on the packaging 

Marble cheesecake

Are you a cheesecake lover like me? If you are, you definitely not gonna miss this post. I'm not an ardent fan of cake but cheesecake always got his soft spot on me. This cheesecake is my dad's favourite & i'm dedicating this post to honour the man of my life "APPA".


Ingredients:

For the base:

1 1/2 cups digestive biscuits or cream crackers
1/2 cup melted butter

For the filling

400g full fat cream cheese
1 3/4 cups sugar
1/2 tsp vanilla essence
1/4 tsp salt
3 tbsp flour
2 yolks
5 eggs
3/4 cup sour cream
100g dark chocolate (melted)

Methods:

1. Line the base of a 9 inch round springform baking tin with parchment paper

2. To make the base, crushed the digestive biscuits & mix with the melted butter. Press the mixture into the base of the baking tin & level it evenly with your palm.

3. For the filling, place the softened cream cheese in a mixer & whip it. Add the sugar & beat till blended. Gradually blend in the flour & salt. Add the egg yolks, eggs & vanilla essence. Mix in the sour cream into the mixture. Scoop out 2 cups of the mixture & set aside.

4. Boil water & place a bowl on top of the boiling water to melt the chocolate. once melted let the chocolate to cool down & add into the reserved filling mixture. Pour a layer of vanilla filling into the base of baking tin & alternately spoon in the chocolate layer. Repeat the process till you fill the baking tin. Using a knife, swirl the both batters to create the marble effect. Bake at 450 degrees F for 15 minutes then turn down the heat to 250 degrees F & bake for 1 more hour. Once the cake is baked let it cool down in the turned off oven for another 1 hour

5. Refrigerate the cake overnight to set. Once set, remove from the springform & slice it with a sharp knife dip into a very hot water to get a clean cut.

Now, you can make your cheesecake anytime you want without running to the cake shops.

Tips: To get a clean cut on cheesecake, always dip your knife in a hot water before each slicing. You can steambath your cheesecake to get the steaming effect. Simply place the round cheesecake baking tin in a large square baking tin & pour in 1/2 inch of piping hot water into the square cake tin & bake.

Notes: It is important not to melt your chocolate in a direct heat as it might get burned. Boil water in a pan & place a big bowl larger than your pan size, place the chocolate into the bowl  & stir it continously till the chocolate melted

Nutella wanton wrap

Creating desserts is not a hassle as think by many. You can whip up awesome desserts in a seconds
This is one of them...


Ingredients:

1 packet wanton wrappers
1 cup nutella chocolate hazelnut spread
4-5 bananas(diced)
oil for frying


Methods:

1. Spoon out 1 tbsp of nutella in the middle of wanton wrap & place few pieces diced bananas on them

2. Wet all the edges of wanton skin with plain water & shape it to a triangular. Seal edges

3. Heat oil in a frying pan over a medium flame & fry the wanton till golden brown

4. Toss the excess oil with a kitchen towel.

5. Once cool, sprinkle with confectionery sugar & enjoy....

Pancakes with caramelised orange pulps

This is the 1st western b'fast i made for my family for weekend out of the usual idli & dosa.
Waking up to the citrus scent of caramelised orange is new to my household. A very easy b'fast menu which u can whip up in a blink of eyes.


Ingredient:

1 cup of all purpose flour(sifted)
1/2 cup whole milk
1 tbsp granulated white sugar
1 tsp teaspoon vanilla essence
1 tsp baking powder
1 tbsp butter (for frying)
Segments of 1 orange
A pinch of salt
Few cuts of cold butter
Honey(as desired)


Methods:

1.In a clean bowl mix together flour,baking powder,salt & white sugar

2.Break in the egg to the mixture & add in milk,vanilla essence. Whisk till no lumps. Let the mixture stands for 5 mins for the baking powder to create magic

3.Heat a non stick frying pan in a medium heat & melt butter for frying. Drop in the mixture to the heated pan(a laddle will be handy in keeping u the perfect round shape of the pancakes)

4.Once bubbles appears on the edge of the pancakes, carefully flip it over to cook the other side. Approximately cook for 1 min for each side.

4.Dish out on serving pan. With the remaining butter in the pan, add in honey & orange segments. Let the honey caramelised the orange pulps for 1 min. Spoon the caramelised orange pulps over the pancakes stack & top up with cut cold butter.

Walla! Your b'fast is ready.