Salsa Dip

Chilled salsa dip for the hot weather.

This is easy, coz I juz put everything in a blender..

Ingredients
- 6 tomatoes
- 1 packet of coriander leaves
- 1 cucumber

Seasonings
- sea salt
- olive oil
- apple vinegar
- dash of pepper

Methods
1. Put tomatoes and coriander leaves in a blender to blend thoroughly. (I add a bit of water to make it blend smoothly)

2. Cut the cucumber into dices

3. Put all the mixture and cucumber into a mixing bowl and mix well.

4. Add in all the seasonings. (Adjust according to your taste.)

5. Put in the fridge to chilled.

6. Serve with crackers.

Strawberry Salad with Caviar

Here is my little idea to make more fanciful salad for your love one. To make my hubby eat more vegetable, i will try to make my salad look nice. I use different cups or nice bowls to decorate the salad. And of course, i will try to eat different items like fruits and raisins to give a sweet taste. Most of the times, i used clear glasses so that the different layers can be seen.

This time i put a layer of strawberry, a thick layer of lettuces, top with garlic bread and caviar. Is real yummy.

Ingredient (3 servings)

• 10 strawberries (you can replace with other fruits)
• 8-10 lettuces leaves
• 1/2 onion
• 10-15 cubes garlic bread
• 1 teaspoon of caviar
• 1 Tbsp Mayonnaise
• 1 tsp vinegar
• 1 tsp olive oil
• Optional: Raisins and Hard-boiled egg (cut into smaller cubes)

Method

1. Cut strawberries into small pieces.
2. Cut lettuces leaves into smaller pieces.
3. Cut onion into thin slices.
4. Mix lettuces and onion with mayonnaise, vinegar and olive oil in a big salad bowl.
5. Place the strawberries in the bottom of the glass.
6. Place the mixed lettuces.
7. Place the garlic bread cubes
8. Use a small spoon to place the caviar on top.
9. Serve.

Remarks: You can add more mayonnaise according to your preference.

Cherry Agar Agar

Spring/Summer is the season for cherry. The cherries are so sweet and cheap during this time. We will go to the supermarket to stock up cheery weekly and enjoy it after each dinner. 

I had made agar agar a few times with two to three layers with coconut milk. I saw my friend posted her layers cheesecake and this inspired me to try out agar agar with cherry.

As this is the first time working with cherries, i find it tough. It's just like a battle. I have to make sure my agar agar is not harden before the cherry is in place. The difficult part is when the cherry keep floating on top of the agar agar and swim here and there. This is due to the air trap in the center of the cherry that make it float to the top. I use a toothpick to poke a few holes in the center of the cherry, hoping that the air can escape but failed. 

After trying a few different methods, i finally found the correct way. I use a chopstick and hold the cherry and push it into the agar agar and slowly turn it to about 45degree angle or more and let the tiny air escape and flow out of the cherry. Once the tiny air bubble is out, it will sink to the base.

Cherry Agar Agar
Ingredient

• 14g agar agar strips
• 240g sugar
• 120g coconut milk
• 1200ml water
• pinch of salt
• red coloring
• 10 Cherries (Deseed and cut into halves)

Methods

1. Break the stip of agar agar into smaller pieces and soak it in a container with water for 30 min.
2. Drain away the water and squeeze out the excess water.
3. Fill 1200ml of water and bring it to boil. Continue to boil and stir to make sure the strips are melted and no lump left.
4. Add sugar to the mixture and taste the sweetness. (Reduce the sugar or add more, based on your preference)
5. Turn off the heat once the sugar melt.
6. Take out 360ml of the mixture and transfer to a bowl. 
7. Add 120ml of coconut milk.
8. Add pinch of salt.
9. Add a few drop of red coloring. (Add one drop at a time to reach the color you desired)
10. Mix well. Transfer the mixture to the mould and refrigerate for 3-5 min.
11. While waiting for the coconut layer to become semi-firm, use the remaining agar agar in the pot to mix with a few drops of red coloring for the top layer.
12. The coconut should be semi-firm.
13. Add the remaining of the agar agar mixture on top of the coconut layer.
14. Use a chopstick and place the cherry into the top agar agar mixture slowly. Tilt the cherry until you see the tiny air bubble escape. (It should sink to the top of the the coconut layer)
15. Place all the cherry.
16. Put the mould into the refrigerator for 10minutes and serve.

Remarks: If the agar agar in the pot begin to cool and harden, turn on the fire to heat again.

Chawanmushi

Chawanmushi

I tried this recipe many years back from allrecipes.com. Luckily i did post a comment on it, therefore  after so many years i am still able to trace back. The ingredients are easy but the success rate is not very high every time. It depend on the cup or bowl used and the timing.

I remember the first time when i cooked this, i was a total success because i used a small glass cup for espresso. Then i try using a bigger cup but forgotten to set the timer and it was overcooked like those Chinese steam eggs. Another time when i cooked, i forget to cover it and all the steam fall from the lid and my chawanmushi was flooded..

It has been a long time i cooked this so i decided to do it again with my little minipot with lid. My hubby say it was not bad, it is very soft. I happened to cook chicken soup the night before therefore i was able to use the real chicken stock.
The original recipes is from allrecipes.com, and below is the recipe i modified

Ingredients
2 eggs
235ml chicken stock
1 dash cooking wine
3 drops light soy sauce
2 stick crabmeat
4 small piece of cooked chicken

Method

1. Beat the eggs lightly and add in the wine, soy sauce and chicken stock.
2. Place the crabmeat and chicken into the minipot or cup.
3. Pour the mixture into the minipot until filled
4. Prepare the steamer. Place the minipot into the steam and reduce the heat to medium.
5. Cover the steamer and steam for 12 mins.
6. Serve.

Hot & Sticky Chicken Wings

Hot & Sticky Chicken Wings

This is the second times i had cooked this hot and sticky chicken wings, but during dinner my hubby say "wow looks very tasty.. What is this called". I was like.. Hello my dear this is not the first time i cook this leh.. So i guessed the first time must have not taste so good, but this time confirmed is Good ar.

Ingredients

2 Tbsp tomatoes sauce

2 Tbsp Hoisin sauce

1 tsp Tabasco sauce

3 Tbsp water

2 tsp sugar

Method

1. Cut the chicken wings and dry it with kitchen towels. 
2. Season the chicken with salt and grind pepper seeds. Set aside for 1 hr or more
3. Heat up the frying pan with oil. Cook the chicken wings till the skin turn slightly brown.
4. Remove all the oil from the pan with kitchen towels. 
5. Reduce the heat to low and add in the Tomatoes, Hoisin, Tabasco sauce and stir fry awhile.
6. Add in sugar and water. 
7. Stir the mixture till it slightly sticky and dry. Toss all the chicken to make sure it is evenly coated.
8. Serve.

Chocolate Cupcake

I have bake Vanilla Raisin Butter Cake countless of times, therefore yesterday i decided to try something new. I add chocolate to the vanilla raisin butter cake and to my surprise it was equally delicious. 


It was quite easy to bake this. Firstly i used the Vanilla Raisin Butter Cake Recipe, i omit the vanilla extract and add in one tablespoon of hot water with two tablespoon of cocoa powder and stir well then i add in to the cake mixture.

Ingredient

• 120g butter 
• 120g sugar
• 120g self-raising flour
• 2 large egg
• 1 Tbsp hot water
• 2 Tbsp cocoa powder
• 1 cup raisin (you may increase the amount)

Methods

• Preheat your oven to 170⁰C. Prepare your cupcake tray and line 12 hole with paper cases.
• Lightly beat the 2 eggs in a bowl.
• Sift the flour and set aside
• Use a mixer to cream the butter and sugar until light and fluffy. (Butter at room temperature)
• Gradually add eggs with a little flour and beat until smooth. (Divide the egg into 4-5 portions)
• Pour in the raisins and stir in with a spatula until even.
• Mix the hot water and cocoa powder in a bowl, mix well.
• Pour the chocolate mixture into the cake mixture, use a spatula and fold in the mixture until even.
• Divide the mixture equally and pour into paper cases.
• Bake for 15-20 min until golden brown.

Afternoon Tea

Afternoon Tea

I was in the supermarket last weekend and wanted to grab some mini-pancake for my breakfast when i was this caviar on the shelve. There are two types, orange and black, and i have no idea which one to buy. I thought i can spread on my pancake with the orange one so i got that. 


In the morning, i bring out whatever in my fridge that can be spread on the pancake and toast bread. And here i start my creativity to display my work. After spreading everything on the pancake and bread, i sit back and enjoy my creation. Different pieces taste differently. There are a few mistake i made, which is too much caviar and salmon spread that make the piece too salty. Other than this, the rest is ok. Is better to put small pieces of cucumber as it give a crunchy bite.


Ingredient used :
Cherry tomatoes
Cucumber
Caviar
Smoked salmon
Cream cheese
Kiri Kiri cube cheese
Garlic spread


Based used:
Mini-pancake
Toast bread

Vanilla Raisin Butter Cake

Vanilla Raisin Butter Cake

I have bake this vanilla raisin butter cake so many times, and the recipe never failed me. The ingredient called for are normal and the steps are easy. The original recipe is only buttercake and i add the raisins in it to make it taste better. I always put lots of raisins and the best part is my hubby love it too. It is nice to have it for my afternoon tea break and during road trip as it can keep for up to a week. Therefore i usually bake alot and keep it in a air-tight container. Sometimes when my hubby reach home and dinner is not ready, he will eat some of these first. I forgotten to say my little doggie also love it. BUT if you are giving it to your dog, never feed the raisin. Raisin like chocolate is toxin to doggies.

Things to remember when using this recipe:

1. Never use a cupcake paper case. I have tried a few times, the top will crack, therefore i always used this low cut paper case.
2. Use butter and eggs at room temperature.
3. The surface is suppose to be golden brown and slightly crispy. Baking time is about 15-20min, but if the surface is not brown, bake for another 5 mins.

Ingredient

• 120g butter 
• 120g sugar
• 120g self-raising flour
• 2 large egg
• 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
• 1 cup raisin (you may increase the amount)

Methods

• Preheat your oven to 170⁰C. Prepare your cupcake tray and line 12 hole with paper cases.
• Lightly beat the 2 eggs in a bowl.
• Sift the flour and set aside
• Use a mixer to cream the butter and sugar until light and fluffy. (Butter at room temperature)
• Pour in the vanilla extract and mix well.
• Gradually add eggs with a little flour and beat until smooth. (Divide the egg into 4-5 portions)
• Pour in the raisins and stir in with a spatula until even.
• Divide the mixture equally and pour into paper cases.
• Bake for 15-20 min until golden brown.

Chwee Kueh 水粿

My hubby loves Chwee Kueh back in Singapore, but not really for me. I hardly eat this as i do not really like the saltiness. I'm making this today for his breakfast tomorrow morning. I suppose to make some cakes today but the weather turned cold and it make me feel so moody. therefore no mood to do any baking today. I think Chwee Kueh is a easy to cook so here it goes.

Topping
Ingredient
150g Chai Po (preserved radish)
5 cloves of garlic
3 tsp of sugar
1 tsp light soy sauce
1/2 Tbsp dark soy sauce
2 Tbsp seasame seed
3 Tbsp olive oil
4 Tbsp water
Dash of white pepper

Method

1. Soak the chaipo in water for 15min, rinse and drain well. Set aside
2. Cut the garlic finely
3. Heat the oil and stir fry the garlic till fragrant.
4. Add in the chaipo and sesame seed. Stir fry.
5. Add a dash of white pepper and pour in the rest of the seasoning. Stir and mix well.
6. Reduce to low heat and cook till fragrant.

Batter

Ingredient

A

150g rice flour

4 Tbsp tapioca flour

1 Tbsp wheat starch

250ml water

B

1 Tbsp olive oil

1 tsp salt

360 ml water

Method

1. Add rice flour, tapioca flour, wheat starch and water in a big bowl. Stir and mix well. Use a sieve to remove any lumps.
2. Pour everything in B into a small pot and bring it to boil.
3. Pour boiling B mixture into the flour mixture and stir well.
4. Prepare a steamer and bring it to boil. Grease the mold with oil. 
5. Pour in the mixture into the mould and steam over high heat for 25min.
6. Remove and cool the mould. Unmould the chwee kueh.
7. Serve with radish topping.

*You can use normal cooking oil instead of oilve oil. I usually use oilve oil for my cooking because it is more healthy and the price here is equivalent to vegetable oil.

**I do not have the mould for making chwee kueh therefore i am using my baking mould.

Avocado Milkshake

Avocado Milkshake

This is the second time i make avocado milkshake. The first time when i made, it was very creamy. I made about two cups and left it in the fridge to chill. The next morning when i tried it again, it was even more creamy. I did not record down the amount of milk used, therefore this time i decided to write it down.
This time, i like the texture, it is smooth and less creamy. If you like to have thick creamy texture, add less milk. As avocado do not really have the sweetness, i add honey to taste.
Nutrition Value
Avocado has rich in vitamin B, E and K. It helps to lower blood cholesterol level when consume in high intake. Since this is a avocado milkshake, it also has calcium.

Ingredient
4 Ripe Avocado
600ml Fresh Milk
1 Tbsp Honey

Method

1. Peel off the skin of the Avocado. Cut across it to remove the seed. Cut into 4-5 pieces size each.
2. Put all the cut Avocado into a blender.
3. Pour in the milk. Blend the mixture until it turn creamy.
4. Add in the honey and blend awhile to mix well. 
5. Serve.

Chrizelyn Tamagoyaki Japanese Egg

Last month i receive a free Japanese cooking pan for Tamagoyaki from a lady who is going back to Singapore. So i thought i should go search for Tamagoyaki receipe and try this new toy. I guess the difficult part of cooking Tamagoyaki is not the recipe but the method of cooking, so i went YouTube and search for the method. I watched once and decided to give it a try. 

Cooking Method from YouTube (click to view the video)

The difficult part is not on the flipping of the egg mixture but is when to flip it. Below is the picture of my Tamagoyaki on my first attempt. 

Problem 1: When i cut and view the cross-section, i can see that the layers have lots of holes, this is the result when i flipped the egg but did not fold it pack enough.

Solution: I used a spoon to slightly pressed on the egg after i flipped each time.

Problem 2: I can see the egg yolk and egg white separately. 

Solution: Ii add some salt to the egg mixture to further break down the egg white and filter the mixture using a sieve.

Above is the result for my second attempt. Wow.

Ok so where is the recipe? I do not have any recipe for this Tamagoyaki. Why? cos when i found the recipe and out of 5 ingredients, i only have one that is the eggs. hahahaha. So i decided to use my own recipe instead. Below recipe is agar agar one. Is just like when you cook omelette egg, the soy sauce you also agar agar right.

Why i used concentrated milk? I remember the first time i learned to cook Bombay Toast, the ingredient used is concentrated milk. This is to give the sweet taste. From then, whenever i cook egg, i have the habit of adding a bit of concentrated milk to it. 
What is Bombay Toast? Hahaha i have a joke here. I was talking to my girlfriends when we have lunch at my place today. When i mentioned Bombay Toast they start laughing and say it should be French Toast. They have never hear this before. I never create it, as this is what it is being called in the recipe book. I when to goggle it just now and found out that Bombay Toast is used in Burma and is just another name for French toast. I think i should use French toast in future otherwise i will be the joker again.

Chrizelyn Tamagoyaki 
Ingredients
5 eggs
1 tsp of soy sauce
1 tsp of sugar
1 tsp of concentrated milk
1 pinch of salt
1/2 tsp of chicken stock (you can skip this)

Method

1. Break the eggs into a big bowl. Use a spoon to lightly beat the egg. Add the salt to further break down the egg white. Set aside for 15mins.
2. Add the rest of the ingredients into the egg mixture. Stir the mixture evenly.
3. Heat the pan and grease with oil using a kitchen towel.
4. Pour 1/3 of the egg mixture into the pan and do not let the egg overcook. Start to flip the egg to make the layers. 
5. Once the 1/3 of the egg mixture has been layered, continue with another 1/3 and etc.
6. To understand better on when to flip and how to flip, please view the video before cooking.

Prawn Crackers in France - Asia Tibits

I start to miss all the tibits in Singapore. Here i think the french hardly eat tibits as the selection in the supermarket is so limited. And i think the reason why most french are so slim is due to the low consumption of junk food.

My friend passed me some crackers the other day, and i was so excited when i saw it as i did not know i can get it here. She told me i can buy the raw one from EurAsie and fry it myself. So i went to EurAsie with my hubby to get it. There are a handful of different brands and the price is about 1 +/- Euro per packet. I didn't know which one to choose so i picked one from the shelves that is most sellable. How do i know which one is most sellable..hahaha based on the brand that has lesser packets on the shelves.

Its quite easy to cook this. When i opened the packet, the raw crackers is small and very hard. I heat up the oil and put one piece to see how much it will expand. It will actually expand to about 4 times from its original size. I was using a small pot, therefore it can hold about 3 piece at a time. Do not overcrowd the pot. If you allow enough space for the crackers to expand, it will form a flat piece otherwise it will curve up and you get all the uneven shape. One packet can yield about 1 big tin and more.

This tasty prawn crackers is just as nice as the one in Singapore.

Homemade Achar

My mum would always make this Achar once in awhile in containers for us. Each container with different taste for our family members. We like it differently so my mum will adjust the taste according to our preferrence. They usually like it to be added with more chillies and peanuts. Mine is NO PEANUT cos i am allergy to nuts.

Ingredients
3 pc Small Carrots
2 pc Cucumbers
1 Whole Ripe Pineapple (you may used canned pineapple)
3 pc Chili Padi
1 Tbsp Sesame seeds
5 Tbsp White Vinegar
2 Tbs Sugar
1 tsp Seasame Oil
1 Tbsp Salt

Method

1. Wash carrots, cucumbers, chillies. Slice them into very thin pieces.
2. Soak the slice carrot, cucumber and chillies in water and add the salt. Mix the vegetable evenly with the salt water for 1 min. Remove all the vegetables and drain dry. Set aside the salt water for later use.
3. Cut the pineapple into some pieces.
4. Put the cut pineapple into the salt water and stir for awhile, drain the water away.
5. Add all the vegetable and pineapple in a mixing bowl.
6. Add vinegar, sugar, sesame oil and sesame seed. Mix everything evenly.
7. Store them in a container and place in the fridge.

Best time to eat is after one day later.

Homemade Kaya

I missed the Kaya from Singapore and toast bread, but the best Kaya Toast that i had ate before is not from Singapore but Penang. Last time whenever i was on business trip to Penang, the No. 1 must eat breakfast is half boiled egg with kaya toast at any coffeeshop. I don't know why their Kaya Toast just taste so nice.

I found quite a number of kaya recipe and decided to try out a more easy version. Usually when i try out a new recipe, i will reduce the ingredient by half.

Ingredient
6 eggs
250g sugar
3 pandan leaves
250ml coconut milk

Method

1. Gently beat the egg and sugar together until the sugar dissolves. Try not to beat too hard which will create foam.
2. Wash the pandan leaves and dry it out with kitchen towel. Tie the pandan leaves with a knot.
3. Use a double boiler, add eggs, pandan leaves and coconut milk and mix them.
4. Stir the mixture until thick paste. (I stir for about an hour)