Crepes with Raspberry Ripple Ice Cream.

Today i got back home at about 3ish , slightly hungry due to the early lunch or rather brunch i had before heading over to college. I asked my mom what's there to munch on for tea but as expected , the usual answer from her, nothing. Was slightly disappointed but i knew that now its all up to me to feed my hungry stomach.

I know i've got a tub of raspberry ice cream in the fridge but i definitely didn't wanna go pig out on that tub therefore , i thought of making crepes to go with it , at least everyone at home can have it as a tea time snack.

INGREDIENTS

* 1 cup all-purpose flour
* 1/4 tsp salt
* 2 eggs
* 1/2 cup water
* 1/2 cup low-fat milk
* 2 tbsp olive oil / melted butter

Method:
1) Sift the dry ingredients into a mixing bowl.
2) In another bowl , mix and whisk all the wet ingredients together and pour into the flour.
3) Stir and whisk until combined. Sift the batter to remove any lumps before making crepes.
4) Heat your non-stick pan over medium heat and oil the pan with some butter or olive oil. Pour 1/4 cup of the batter onto the pan.
5) Cook it for approximately 2-3 minutes , turn and cook the other side.
6) Repeat step 4 and 5 for the remaining batter.
7) Serve it with your favourite type of ice cream.

Note:
For those who likes your crepes a lil buttery , add in the melted butter instead of the olive oil.

This recipe makes about 9 pieces of crepes.

Moist Carrot Walnut Cake with Lemon Cream Cheese Frosting

Finally i made my first carrot walnut cake! I've been waiting to make this for a while now but didn't really have the time until today. I've had a packet of walnut sitting in my fridge for almost a few months now and i was so glad that i used up the whole pack. Surely didn't wanna leave anymore walnuts in my fridge, cause if i do , i have no idea when will i be able to use it again.

Ingredients

Carrot Walnut Cake

* 2 cups all-purpose flour

* 1/2 tsp salt

* 1 tsp baking soda

* 1 1/2 tsp baking powder

* 1 1/2 tsp cinnamon powder

* 4 large eggs

* 1 1/2 cups brown sugar

* 1 cup canola oil

* 1/2 crushed pineapple

* 2 tsp vanilla extract

* 150g walnuts, toasted and coarsely chopped

* 360 g raw carrots, finely grated

Method:

1) Toast walnuts in the oven for about 10-15 minutes at 180 degree C, let it cool and chop coarsely.

2) Sift the flour, salt, baking soda, baking powder and cinnamon powder in a bowl and set aside.

3) Beat the eggs for about 1-2 mins, until its frothy and gradually add the sugar and whisk until the mixture is light colored and thick, bout 4-5 mins. Add in the crushed pineapples.

4) Add in the oil in a consistent flow then pour in 2 tsp of vanilla extract.

5) Add the sifted dry ingredients and mix until just incorporated.

6) Fold in 3/4 of  the chopped walnuts and grated carrot.

7) Pour into a 9' square baking pan that's lined with a greaseproof paper and sprinkle the remaining 1/4 of the chopped walnuts on the top.

8) Let it cool and remove from the pan and if desire, you can either divide the cake into 1/2 or 1/4.

Note:

You can add in all the chopped walnuts into the batter, instead of sprinkling some on the top of the batter before baking it. I like my cake to have more texture especially when it involves nuts, that's why i set aside 1/4 of the walnuts to be sprinkled. You can also replace the walnuts with pecans.

Cool the whole cake and frost it with the cream cheese frosting or you can cut it into 4 pieces and assemble it to form a layered cake. If you layered it , then you'll have 2 layered carrot cakes that measure 4 1/2  by 4 1/2.

Since i've two mini carrot cakes, i decorated each of them differently. I covered one of it with finely chopped walnuts and the other only sprinkle it on the top.

For better tasting moist carrot cake, once its cooled, pop it into the fridge or you can just leave it at room temperature and only pop it into the fridge once you've done with the frosting. Leaving it in the fridge will ease your frosting session.

Lemon Cream Cheese Frosting

* 250g cream cheese, room temperature

* 57g butter, room temperature

* 2 cups confectioner's sugar

* 1 tbsp lemon zest

* 1 tsp vanilla extract

Method:

1) Leave both the cream cheese and butter at room temperature. Once its ready , add both in a bowl and mix it until just blended with no lumps.

2) Add in the sifted powdered sugar gradually and mix until fully incorporated and smooth.

3) Add in your vanilla extract and then your 1 tbsp of lemon zest.

4) When the cake has cooled, frost it with cream cheese and decorate it with toasted finely chopped walnuts or just plain cream cheese frosting.

Note:
I cut down the powdered sugar to 1 1/2 cups. Keep tasting the frosting from time to time when you make it so that you can have a better control of the sweetness of your frosting.

Shitakei Mushroom Soup

Lately i've been craving for mushroom soup but i didn't wanna go out there , order and have it. I want something homemade, something without the typical generic mushroom soup taste that most restaurants offer. Also I didn't wanna get the cream of mushroom from the can as well so that leave me no choice but to figure out how to make something creamy minus the sour cream/ cream on my own. This is also my first time making so i was a lil clueless on what should i include it in.

I definitely need some fresh mushrooms, the dried ones will only add more flavour to it. i don't have any button or straw mushrooms therefore , i've no choice but to use up all the shitakei mushrooms, the remains from the pasta i made a couple of days back.

INGREDIENTS

* 280g fresh shitakei mushrooms

* 1large yellow onions

* 4 cloves garlic

* 2 sprigs fresh thyme

* 1/2 tbsp butter or more

* Black pepper

* Salt to taste

* 500ml chicken broth

* 200ml low-fat milk

* 3/8 tsp vanilla (optional)

* A dash of nutmeg (optional)

Method:

1) Heat your sauce pan and add in butter and olive oil.

2) Saute the garlic and onions.

3) Add in your fresh thyme and stiry then add in the sliced shitakei mushrooms.

4) Season with pepper and give it a stir before adding in salt.

5) Give it another stir then pick out your thyme leaves.

6) Add half of the chicken broth into your sauce pan, leave another half to be added into the blender/food processor.

7) Pour the mushrooms and the chicken broth into the blender/food processor, pulse it once or twice before adding the remaining chicken broth and puree until its smooth.

8) Once you're done, pour the mushroom soup back into your pot and heat it up.

9) Season your soup further with salt or pepper or even nutmeg powder, but thats entirely optional.

10) Add in your low-fat milk and let it simmer before adding in your vanilla extract.

Note:

Most mushroom soups have got some white wine/sherry in it, so instead of using sherry, i substituted it with some vanilla extract, at least that's what i learnt about substitution for sherry.

You can serve the soup with some toasted garlic bread or like me , spread a thin layer of marjerin on a slice of bread and toast it!

I like the texture of the soup but somehow the aroma of thyme was a lil too strong for me , also it has a somewhat bitter end note to it, i'm yet to figure out why though. Perhaps its the type of mushrooms i used. I should have opt for some combination ( portobello, oysters, button, straws) but oh well, its not that bad for a make to do with what's available in my fridge :) Or maybe i've added a bit too much of nutmeg or was it the vanilla extract? Hmm.. i think the next time when i do this, i'll just add some white wine to it instead.

Pork Rolls with Bechamel Sauce

I'm sure you guys have seen this around and for this dish, you're right , its not entirely my original idea. In fact there's a few version of it available online. Pork rolls also known as Flamenquines in Spanish; a delicious tapa. I've been searching for the origin but there's not much info available but it  was said to have relation to the term "flamenco", which means any colourful dish to the native of Andalusia.

You must be wondering why am i serving it with a bechamel sauce instead of salsa, like how the Spanish would. I actually got the idea from a recipe i came across on Flamenquines. In the recipe, we're suppose to dip the rolled pork into the bechamel sauce and then coat it with breadcrumbs and deep fry it. Since i know that i don't have that skill to dip in anything creamy and coat it with breadcrumbs, i opted to serve it as a dipping sauce instead.

Ingredients

PORK ROLLS
* 10 slices of pork loin sukiyaki
* 10 slices smoked black pepper ham
* 10 strips of cheese
* Some minced garlic
* Some minced parsley
* 1 egg, beaten
* Flour to coat
* Breadcrumbs

Method:
1) Place a slice of ham on top of the pork loin and add a strip of cheese on the ham and roll. Secure with a toothpick if needed.
2) Coat the rolled pork with flour and dip it into the beaten egg mixture and coat it with the breadcrumbs mixture; add the minced garlic and parsley into the breadcrumbs.
3) Heat the wok with oil and deep fry until golden.
4) Remove and drain it on a paper towel.
5) Cut about 1/2 inch across and serve.

Note:
I ran out of flour therefore i substituted it with chickpea flour. I add bout 3 tablespoon of chickpea flour and some water to make it into a paste and coat the rolled pork. Instead of breadcrumbs,i added the minced garlic and parsley into some chickpea flour and with the coated rolled pork , i coated it with the garlic-parsley mixture before deep-frying it.

Result, well i think its a little too hard, especially the chickpea coating, i'll definitely use breadcrumbs instead the next time around..  Also, instead of mixing the garlic and parsley together , i think it would be better to spread it on the pork loin instead. Oh well , another round of experiment for me! :)


BECHAMEL SAUCE
* 2 1/2 tbsp butter
* 2 tbsp flour
* 2 cups low- fat milk
* 1/8 tsp nutmeg powder
* Salt to taste
* Pepper to taste

Method:
1) Melt the butter in a sauce pan.
2) Add flour and keep stirring with your whisk.
3) Add the heated milk and stir further.
4) Keep stirring while you season with salt, pepper and nutmeg.
5) If its too thick to your liking, add more milk until it reaches the consistency you like.

Note:
For those that wanna skip the warming up the milk step, like i did, due to sheer laziness :) . All you need to do with the cold milk from the fridge is to add a tablespoon or two of milk at a time into your butter-flour mixture until you finished up the milk and keep stirring with your whisk and you'll get a smooth and somewhat thick sauce.

You can add more nutmeg powder and ground pepper to give the sauce more flavour.

The classic French version of this sauce, they uses white onion that is studded with cloves ( take the cloves and stick it into the onion),instead of adding ground nutmeg . The onion-cloves combination give the sauce a unique flavour.

Dischi Volanti with Shitakei and Fresh Basil in Basic Italian Tomato Sauce

I know what you guys are thinking out there, what a long name for this beauty huh? As of now, my brain's kinda dead from last's night long hours of journal reading therefore, naming the dish right now isn't the best time. Despite the partial brain dead i'm experiencing right now, i'm pretty focus especially when i have something cooking on the stove! All this while i've been a linguine person. and as of late, i find myself liking short pasta more, perhaps its easier to work with and i don't need a big pot to boil my pasta! Also i love experimenting with different shapes of pasta. This is my first time cooking with dischi volanti and it seems like i've already put it in my list of favourite pasta.

INGREDIENTS
* 411g diced tomatoes
* 2 cloves garlic. minced
* 2 medium red onions, chopped
* 8 fresh shitakei mushrooms
* Handful of chopped fresh basil
* Salt and black pepper to taste
* Some brown sugar
* Dischi volanti for two.

Method:
1) You can work on the sauce and the pasta simultaneously if you've more than a stove to work on, otherwise you can prepare the sauce then proceed with the pasta.
2) Cook the pasta according to the package direction or about 10-12minutes. Add some salt and a drop or two of olive oil.
3) Heat your pan with some olive oil and add minced garlic and when it turns golden, add your sliced shitakei mushrooms and season with salt and pepper.
4) Next, add your chopped onions and stir further until it turns translucent.
5) Introduce your diced tomatoes into the pan and stir further and let it simmer.
6) You can season with salt and pepper after you've added the diced tomatoes or you can do it when your sauce is almost done.
7) Sugar is optional. Do add in if you want to cut down the sourish tomato taste.
8) Add in your chopped basil and stir.
9) Add in water or vegetable broth if it starts to dry.
10) Again season with salt and pepper if you didn't when you added your diced tomatoes.
11) Taste from time to time and add what is necessary , salt/pepper/sugar.
12) Remove your pasta from the boiling water when its done and add it to your pan of sauce and stir to combine thoroughly and serve.
13) You can garnish with some torn fresh basil and coarse black pepper or some finely chopped basil with grated parmesan cheese.

Note:
Add in more ground black pepper if you like a spicy after taste in your mouth. I surely did for my pasta sauce.

The red onions used in this recipe is to add sweetnees to the sauce. You can also use yellow onions but do sure to replace the water with vegetable broth for more flavour.

You can also add the chopped basil shortly after you've added your diced tomatoes. Do break up your diced tomatoes with your spatula while cooking.

Banana Pancakes with Melted Peanut Butter

Pancake has once again made another come back in my choice of  food for breakfast. The idea to incorporate banana into my pancake batter came when i was replying a comment on banana related food stuff. As usual i was excited and couldn't wait till the next morning to try it out! Instead of using my usual pancake ingredients  i decided to make it simple and see how it will turn out to be. Yup, another experiment! If it turns out great, thumbs up otherwise i'll have a hard time finishing it off!

 

INGREDIENTS
* 1 cup wheat flour
* 1/4 tsp salt
* 1 large egg
* 1 cup water
* 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
* 3 medium bananas, mashed

Method:
1) Sift the flour and salt together in a bowl.
2) Make a well and pour in the egg, water and vanilla extract.
3) Mashed the ripe bananas and add it into the batter.
4) Heat your non stick with a drop or two of olive oil and pour about 1/4 cup of batter onto your non stick.
5) Flip the pancake over when the edge dries up and cook the other side until its thoroughly cooked.
6) Dish it out and put it on a plate. Repeat Step 4 until you finish up your batter.
7) Stack the pancakes so that it will keep warm while you  fry another pancake.
8) Serve with your choice of filling/jam.

Note:
This recipe made about 6 pancakes. If you find that the batter is too thick for your liking, dilute it further with water. You can also replace the water with milk.

When i was much younger and even now at this age, i still love the combination of banana and peanut butter, be it crunchy or the smooth ones. Some of my friends actually think that the banana -peanut butter combination is simply weird and disgusting , I beg to differ! So its rather natural that i reach out for my jar of peanut butter and spread some reasonable amount on my hot banana pancake and let the warmth of the pancake to slightly melt the peanut butter. The combination is just heavenly and irresistible at the same time!

Mini Baked Raspberry Cheesecake

These cute babies are the inspiration of petit four and also a mini cheesecake pan i saw online . Ok perhaps what i have over here isn't the exact petit four but that's the best i can come up with especially when i have to make do with the bake wares i have at home.

When i came across the mini cheesecake pan online, i was thrilled cause now i can make my baked goods into bite size, but unfortunately most of the retail shops specializing in baking needs and goods don't carry them. Some have got no idea what i was talking about and one in particular try to sell me an individual mini bake ware, which i'm not too happy with for the fact that i need to pay for each individual ones instead of gettin it in the form of a muffin tray. I'm seriously running out of storage so for now i can't afford to get more items unless i think of ideas on where i can put or keep my bake wares.

INGREDIENTS

Base:
100g digestive biscuits
30g butter, melted
1/2 tsp coffee essence (optional)

Method:
1) Crush the digestive biscuits in the food processor or blender.
2) Once the butter has melted, add in the coffee essence.
3) Pour the melted butter into the food processor and further blend. If you're using a blender then remove the finely blended digestive in a bowl n pour the melted butter in.
4) Spoon about a tablespoon or less of the crushed digestive into the mini cheesecake pan and set aside.

Note:
 Since i don have a mini cheesecake pan , i lined my 12' muffin tray with paper liners and spoon about 11/2 tbsp of crushed digestive and flaten it evenly and refrigerated it while i work on my cream cheese.

Filling:
* 250g raspberry filling
* 500g cream cheese, softened
* 1/4 tsp fine granulated salt
* 2/3 cups sugar
* 1 tsp vanilla extract
* 2/3 cups sour cream
* 2 eggs, beaten

Method:
1) Leave the cream cheese at room temperature until soften before you work with it.
2) Once its soften, put it in the mixer and mix thoroughly until its the batter is smooth.
3) With the mixer still running, add in the sifted sugar and salt. (sieving removes any possible lumps).
4) Add in your vanilla extract and let it mix further.
5) Add in the sour cream slowly and let it further incorporate before adding in the eggs.
6) Beat the eggs and with the mixer still running, pour in the eggs bit by bit until you're done.
7) Take out your muffin tray and fill up the paper liners with about 1/4 cup of cream cheese.
8) Split the 1/4 cup into half, for ease of use, you can opt for the 1/8 cup instead. Pour 1/8 cup of cream cheese , fill with your choice of filling and then top it up with the remaining 1/8 cup cream cheese.
9) Repeat until you've finished all the cream cheese.
10) You can choose to fill up the surface of your cream cheese with some filling as well , like how i did or you can leave it plain n serve with some warm filling upon serving.
11) Bake in a preheated oven at 160 degree C for 20-25minutes.
12) Let cool and store it in fridge.

Note:
This recipe makes about 16 muffin size cheesecake.

You can also replace the digestive based with chocolate flavored biscuits for those that loves the chocolate and berry combination.

Mashed Chickpea Soup with Coriander

Last Monday, i was at this Lebanese restaurant and the Addas soup served was flavourful and good, especially when you're craving for something hot and soupy at the same time! So today i was pretty bored of cooking up the usual everyday stuff and i thought why don't i make to do with what i have available in my kitchen and i got the idea on transforming my chickpea (garbanzo) into the lentil soup (Addas) i tasted 2 nights ago.

I prefer the dry chickpeas where you can buy in bulk instead of the canned ones. But no matter how i tried cooking the chickpeas, it's never really how i wanted it , tender and yet soft therefore , i resorted to the canned one for ease of use and also minus the time needed to cook it.

INGREDIENTS
* 255g chickpeas
* 2 cloves garlic
* 1 large onion, finely diced
* Salt and pepper to taste
* 7 cups of water/broth
* 2 tsp cumin powder ( adjust accordingly)
* 1/4 tsp turmeric
* Handful of finely chopped coriander leaves

Method:
1) Get ready your chicken broth and keep it boiling.
2) Heat your non-stick with some olive oil and saute the minced garlic and onions while you let the broth boil.
3) Once the garlic and onion's ready, pour some chicken broth and let it simmer for a while more before transferring the garlic and onion into the pot of broth.
4) While its boiling, mashed the chickpeas with your fork if you like some texture, otherwise you can put it in the food processor and blend it before adding it into the broth.
5) After you've added the mashed chickpeas, add the cumin and turmeric powder.
6) Let it boil further before adding the chopped coriander.
7) From time to time , season with salt and pepper.

Note:
For those that like your soup to be on the thick side, you can reduce the amount of water used or add more mashed chickpeas into it.

You can serve it as it is or with a hot lebanese bread or any breadstuff.

Allow a longer duration when you boil your soup because the time will just make your soup more flavorful and taste better; like a good wine that age beautifully with time.

Tom Yum Goong (Spicy Prawn Soup with Fresh Herbs)

Tom Yum or rather Tom Yum Goong as its widely known is definitely one of my favourite soups. Tom Yum is a name for two very much alike soups originating from Thailand (Thai tom yum) and Laos (Lao tom yum). Lao tom yum is relatively unknown outside of Laos whereas Thai tom yum is widely served in the neighbouring countries and has been popularized  around the world.

Though this soup is widely served here, only a few restaurants can produce a good and authentic tasting tom yum. For those who has been to Thailand and tasted the real deal , that taste will serve as a benchmark for you whenever you step into any restaurants serving Thai tom yum.  

Ingredients

ROASTED CHILLI PASTE (NAM PRIK PAO)
* 40g (1/2 cup) dried red chillies
* 30g unpeeled whole shallots
* 30g unpeeled whole garlic cloves
* 50g dried shrimp powder
* 2 tbsp shrimp paste
* 2 tbsp palm sugar or brown sugar
* 2 tbsp fish sauce (nam pla)
* 2 tbsp tamarind paste
* 2 tbsp vegetable oil

Method:
1) In a wok , dry-fry the chillies over low heat until they are darken and become fragrant. Shake the pan and stir frequently as they roast. Be careful not to burn them. Put the chillies aside to cool.
2) In the same pan, dry-fry over medium heat the shallots and garlic, turning them until they are softened and blistered. Set aside to cool.
3) Remove stems from the chillies and shake out most of the seeds , then cut into small pieces.
4) Peel and slice the garlic and shallots, set aside.
5) Wrap the 2 tbsp shrimp paste in a double piece of aluminium foil and put it in the frying pan and cook for about 5 minutes, turning over once or twice.
6) To save time , i put the dried shrimp, chillies, garlic, shallots, shrimp paste, sugar , fish sauce and tamarind juice in the blender and blend it into a smooth paste.
7) Warm the oil over medium heat and add the paste and stir occasionally until the paste slowly darkens to a deep brownish colour and becomes very fragrant. When cool , the paste can be stored in a tightly sealed container in the fridge.

Note:
This recipe has been adopted from a Thai cookbook with a list twist in it.

Don't be fooled by the long list of steps. Its definitely worth the trouble just to have a taste of the authentic thai tom yum again. The ready-made chilli paste out there tasted rather generic therefore instead of getting a bottle of it and to cut down the preparation time, i chose to make my own just to find out how it will taste like with the soup.

That's just the chilli paste needed for the soup and here's a list of what you should have in your bowl/pot of yummilicious appetizing soup!

SOUP

* 750ml (3 cups) chicken broth

* 20 medium sized prawns

* 2 stalks lemongrass (bruised)

* 8 kaffir lime leaves (sliced)

* 60g galangal, large slices

* 6 bird's-eye chillies

* 4 tbsp fish sauce

* 4 tbsp lime juice

* 150g oyster mushrooms

* 1 tbsp roasted chilli paste

* 2 sprigs coriander (roots included)

Method:

1) Bring the chicken broth to boil, and add in the bruised lemongrass, bird's-eye chillies, galangal lime leaves and the cleaned roots of coriander. Let it boil.

2) Add in fish sauce and mushrooms.

3) Add lime juice and the roasted chilli paste and lower the heat and cook for about 3 minutes or so then add the prawns.

4) Check seasoning, adding more fish sauce or lime juice for a hot and piquant soup.
5) Add chopped coriander leaves when you serve.

Note:
You can choose to add the lime juice and fish sauce just before you serve instead of adding it into the soup. while it boils.

You can choose to shell and devein the prawns or you can just put the prawns with its shell into the soup. I shelled and deveined the prawns for ease of consumption.

Stir-fry Garlicky Nutty Asparagus

Apart from being a good source of dietary fiber, folic acid, potassium and rutin, its stalks are high in antioxidants. Folic acid (folate) is seen as the key in taming a substance called , homocysteine, implicated in heart disease.

Yesterday when i was out doing my grocery shopping to stock up the kitchen and fridge, i saw some fresh and nice looking organic baby asparagus on the shelf and i couldn't help but to purchase it. It has been a while since i last had asparagus. Most of the time , its the spicy style, where the asparagus will be blanched and topped with spicy dried shrimps. 


This time around i thought of trying out a recipe i came across while i was browsing, i like the combination of ingredients but unfortunately i couldn't remember the list of  ingredients therefore, i'm just gonna modify the original recipe i came across and tone down the spicy lunch.

INGREDIENTS

* 200g baby asparagus
* 2 tbsp garlic (finely chopped)
* 2 tbsp almond (ground)
* 1 tbsp olive oil
* Salt to taste

Method:
1) Heat the olive oil in a pan and add the minced garlic and stir.
2) Next ,add the ground almond and stir fry further.
3) Add the asparagus. If its too long to fit in to your wok/pan, cut it into half.
4) Stir fry further and season with salt before serving.

Snow-Skin Mooncakes

Since this is my first time making mooncake, i'd start it off with the easy one (at least it is to me), that is the snow-skin mooncake. Snow-skin also known as ice-skin mooncakes by some, resembles the traditional mooncakes with some modern modifications to it.  When i started making these beautiful babies, my mom asked me , what encouraged me to try my hands on this and i replied her saying that it's expensive to buy it and also why do i wanna fork out my cash for an over-priced item where i can make it at home with my own measurements of ingredients.

Since its for home consumption therefore no colouring added to it. Over here i've 3 different colours of snow-skin : light green (pandan paste) , pink (strawberry paste) and the purple ones (blueberry paste). The reason i used these paste is to give the skin a lil flavouring to tone down the smell of koh flour ( fried glutinous rice flour ) and krimwell (shortening that has the buttery smell to it).

Ingredients

SNOW-SKIN
* 200g koh flour
* 140g icing sugar
* 60g Krimwell
* 240g ice water


Method:
1) Sift koh flour and the icing sugar together into a big bowl.
2) Add in Krimwell and rub it in until it resembles crumbles and add in the water and mix thoroughly. 
3) Add in your favourite paste or colouring if you fancy, otherwise a white snow-skin will do as well.


Note:
This recipe makes about 20-22 pieces using a 5.2cm diameter plastic mooncake mould.


Those that are interested in colouring their snow-skin its advisable to add the colouring in the ice water before pouring it into your crumbles. This will give you an even colour on the snow skin.

FILLING

Yellow Eggy Custard
* 80g fine granulated sugar sugar
* 20g superfine flour
* 20g cornflour
* 15g custard powder
* 50ml thin coconut milk
* 75ml low fat milk
* 1 beaten egg yolk
* 25g melted butter
* yellow colouring (optional)


Method:
1) Sift all the dry ingredients together in a bowl.
2) Melt the butter and set aside to let it cool.
3) Mix all the wet ingredients except the butter and mix well.
4) Pour the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients and mix it thoroughly.
5) Pour in the melted butter into the egg mixture as you stir it.
6) Sift the egg mixture over and over until there's no residue left.
7) Pour the egg mixture into a bowl or plate and steam for 15 minutes or until the mixture is cook thoroughly.
8) Remove and let it cool and shape it into a round.


Note:


This eggy custard represents the egg yolk in most mooncakes.
You can make your own filling or purchase the ready made to cut down on your cooking and preparation time. 


For the above mooncakes , i've 3 different flavours , each with an eggy custard in it.

They are :
Light green ones: Pandan Lotus paste + Eggy Custard
Pink ones: Pure Lotus paste & Melon Seeds + Eggy Custard
Purple ones: Yam Lotus paste + Eggy Custard.

Nasi Lemak ( Rice in Coconut Milk )

Nasi Lemak literally means rice in cream, adopted from the cooking process whereby rice is soaked in coconut milk/cream and then the mixture is steamed. This is my first time tryin my hands on cooking this particular dish. When i was growing up, whenever we have Nasi Lemak served at home , I'd get excited cause i can put as much gravy as i want on my rice unlike the store bought ones, dry without much gravy.

Usually Nasi Lemak would be served with spicy anchovies and since i don't have any at home, i substituted it with spicy prawns (sambal udang). You may also serve this dish with fried fish (sardine, mackerel, etc), peanuts and just bout anything that you desire. I don't quite fancy peanuts, therefore i excluded it.

Ingredients

RICE

* 3 cups rice

* 4 cups of water

* 1/2 cups of coconut milk

* 3 screwpine leaves (knotted)

* 3 shallots (thinly sliced)

* 1/2 inch ginger (thinly sliced)

* A pinch of salt

Method :

1) Wash and rinse the long grain rice for at least 5 times to get rid of the starch and also any particles in the rice.

2) Add in the rest of the ingredients in the rice cooker and let it cook.

3) After 10 minutes or so, stir the rice so that the remaining ingredients will be well blended with your rice.

4) Once the rice cooker's "keep warm" indicator is on , fluff up the rice with your fork and cover it up with the lit and let it sit approximately 15mins before serving.

SPICY PRAWNS

* 800g-1kg prawns (shelled and deveined)

* Tamarind juice to taste

* Salt and sugar to taste

* Olive oil

Spice Paste

* 3 medium red onions

* 3cm ginger

* 5 cloves garlic

* 2 tsp shrimp paste powder

* 5 candle nuts

* 5 tbsp chilli paste

Method:

1) You can either blend or pound all the ingredients for the spice paste.

2) Fry your prawns with a little bit of oil for less than a minute and dish out.

3) Heat up your work and add olive oil and stir fry the spice paste until fragrant.

4) Season with salt and sugar to taste and finally add in your tamarind juice until it reaches the consistency you desire.

5) Taste again and season accordingly if you need to.

6) Add in the prawns and simmer for less than 5 minutes otherwise the prawns will turn hard and rubbery.

Note:

If you like the gravy to be more spicy, adjust the amount of chilli paste you included in your spice paste.

Pan- Fried Chicken Breast Fillet with Mango Salsa

This week has got me wondering into Mexicanville. The love affair first started with a simple meal, quesadilla then it kinda cooled down for a while and the heat came back with me craving for guacamole and now salsa! At first it was just salsa and i thought i should make it into a meal instead of a side dish therefore i came up with this meal for dinner.

Ingredients

Mango Salsa

* 1 mango

* 4 medium tomatoes

* 1 medium yellow onion

* 3 cloves garlic

* 3 small jalapeno pepper

* 3 tbsp chopped cilantro

* 1/4 tsp salt or to taste

* Juice of one lemon

Method:

1) Dice the mango and tomatoes and chopped the onion and fresh cilantro. Then mince the garlic and jalapeno, set aside.

2) In a large bowl, mix everything together and stir until its thoroughly combined. Refrigerate it while you prepare the chicken.

Note:

For those that don't fancy a sour salsa, pick a sweet mango and add the lemon juice to taste.

Some even added olive oil to this salsa but i chose to omit it since i like it to be light and tangy. Those that love the heat of jalapeno , feel free to add one or two more, make sure you minced it real good so that it will blend together nicely with the rest of the ingredients.

This bowl of salsa can served up to 5-7 people depending on how much they love salsa.

Pan-Fried Chicken Breast Fillet

* 1/2 of whole chicken breast meat

* 1/8 tsp salt or to taste

* Coarse black pepper to taste

* 1 tbsp olive oil

Method:

1) Lightly salt the breast meat on both sides and season with coarse black pepper after that.

2) Heat a non-stick with the olive oil and pan fry the fillet.

3) Remove and set it on a kitchen towel before serving it together with the salsa.

Note:

For those that love more flavour on their meat, feel free to season with paprika or even cayenne pepper.

Serve this with the mango salsa on top and some chopped romaine lettuce on the side, if you like you can also add mashed potatoes.