Prune Cake

This cake is fabulous! It’s moist and not too sweet. Can’t resist having the 2nd piece ;p

Ingredients:
Butter (250gm)
Brown Sugar (230gm)
Egg (4)
Milk (can be substituted with soy bean milk- 150ml)
Prunes (230gm)
Flour (240gm)
Baking Powder (2tsp)
Baking Soda (1 tsp)

Preheat oven at 180C.


Method:
1. Cream butter and sugar.
2. Add in eggs and mix till combined.
3. Blend milk and prune in a blender and add to the above mixture.
4. Sift flour, baking powder and soda. Add this to the above mixture.
5. Mix till just combined.
6. Bake for 1hour or until cooked.

Fried Mifen

Ingredients:
Mifen (soaked in water till soft)
Egg (beaten and add a little pepper and salt)
Carrot
Choy Sum

Red Bell Pepper
Salt
Light Soy Sauce
Dark Soy Sauce
Garlic
Oil
Water


Method:
1. Heat oil in a wok and fry egg. Set aside in the wok.
2. Saute garlic until light brown.
3. Add in carrot and red bell pepper and stir fry for 1-2min.
4. Add in choy sum and season with a little salt.
5. Add mifen and mix well.
6. Season with dark and light soy sauce. Continue to stir fry and add some water if it gets dry.
7. Stir fry for 2-3min and it’s done.

Stir Fried Choy Sam in Oyster Sauce

Ingredients:
Choy Sam (in Cantonese ;p)
Button Mushrooms
Carrot
Garlic
Oyster Sauce
Salt
Water
Oil


Method:
1. Heat a little oil in wok and sauté garlic.
2. Add in button mushrooms and carrots. Stir fry for 1-2min.
3. Add in choy sam and stir fry for 1min.
4. Season with oyster sauce and salt.
5. Add some water and let it simmer for 1min.
6. Serve hot with rice.

Stir Fried Chicken Frankfurters in Black Pepper Sauce

Ingredients:
Chicken Frankfurters
Green Bell Pepper
Black Pepper Sauce
Salt
Water
Oil


Method:
1. Heat oil in a pan and stir fry green bell peppers for 1-2min.
2. Add in chicken frankfurters and stir fry for 1-2min.
3. Season with black pepper sauce and salt.
4. Add a little water and cook till it boils. Dish up.

Vegetarian Corn Soup

Ingredients:
Corn
Carrot
Potato
Chinese Cabbage
Red dates
Egg Tofu
Salt
Note: You may add some wolfberries and other Chinese herbs too.


Method:
1. Put all ingredients into a pot and bring to boil for ~1 hour.
2. Season with salt and serve hot.

Fried Yee Mee with Minced Chicken Omelet

Ingredients:

Fried Yee Mee:
Yee Mee (soaked in water till partly soft)
Onion (cut into small pieces)
Carrot (cut into thin strips)
Black Wood Fungus (soaked till soft and cut into thin strips)
Green Leafy Vegetables (cut into small pieces)
Garlic (chopped)
Oyster Sauce
Light Soy Sauce
Dark Soy Sauce
Pepper
Salt
Oil
Water

Minced Chicken Omelet:
Chicken Meat (minced- marinate with light soy sauce and pepper)
Egg (beaten and add in a little pepper)
Garlic

Method:

Fried Yee Mee:
1. Heat oil and sauté garlic and onion for 1-2min.
2. Add in carrot and black fungus and season with salt and oyster sauce.
3. Stir fry for 1-2min.
4. Put in yee mee. Add light and dark soy sauce and pepper. Mix well.
5. Add in vegetables and stir fry for 1-2min.
6. Add a little water and continue to stir fry for 1-2min. Done!


Minced Chicken Omelet:
1. Heat a little oil and sauté garlic.
2. Add in chicken meat and stir fry for 2-3min.
3. Pour in egg mixture and fry till cooked.

Quick & Easy Fried Rice

Ingredients:
Rice (cooked and leave to cool)
Mixed Vegetables (corn, green pea and carrot)
Cooking Wine
Egg (beaten)
Garlic (chopped)
Salt
Light Soy Sauce
Oil
Water


Method:
1. Heat oil and sauté garlic till fragrant.
2. Add in egg and stir fry for 1min.
3. Add in mixed vegetables and season with salt and cooking wine.
4. Mix in rice and stir fry for 3-4min.
5. Season with soy sauce and add a little water if it’s too dry.
6. Stir fry for another 2-3min and dish up.

Apple Walnut Cake

Have been really busy and only had the time to try out something new yesterday. Well, I sometimes bake to de-stress, so I think it has been a good baking session last night :)

The original recipe is from Amy Beh in kuali.com. I have modified it a little bit by reducing the amount of sugar and butter (2 fattening ingredients ;p).

This cake tastes better 1 day after baking, so you can always bake it a day before. It’s also very moist and I love the cinnamon taste in it.

Ingredients:
Plain flour (125gm)
Self Raising Flour (75gm)
Cinnamon Powder (1 ½ tsp)
Butter (140gm)
Brown Sugar (220gm)
Vanilla Essence (1 tsp)
Egg (3)
Apple (2 big ones – shredded or cut into very small pieces)
Walnut (80gm)
Raisin (I didn’t measure, just use up whatever’s left)
Oil

Preheat oven at 180C.


Method:
1. Sift plain flour, self raising flour and cinnamon powder. Leave aside.
2. Cream butter and brown sugar till combined.
3. Mix in vanilla essence.
4. Add in egg one by one and beat well.
5. Mix in apples and raisins.
6. Fold in the sifted flour.
7. Grease baking dish with a little oil.
8. Pour in mixture and bake for ~50min or until cooked.

Spaghetti Aglio Olio

Felt like eating something light (er…if you consider pasta a light meal ;p) and healthy but lazy to cook. Anyway, this is ready in 30min and it’s yummy!


Ingredients:
Spaghetti (cooked per packet instruction)
Tomatoes
Red bell pepper
Parsley (chopped finely)
Mixed herbs
Garlic (sliced)
Olive oil
Salt


Method:
1. Heat olive oil in a non stick pan and saute garlic till it starts to brown.
2. Add in red bell pepper and stir fry for 2-3min.
3. Add in tomatoes and continue to stir fry for another 1-2min.
4. Season with salt.
5. Put in the spaghetti and mix well.
6. Add in mixed herbs and parsley. Stir fry for 2-3min.
Dinner’s ready!

Pumpkin Pie

OK, now I can finally try to make a pumpkin pie! All right….it’s not too difficult actually but definitely takes more work than an apple pie since we need to cook the pumpkin first. Anyway, it tastes good but just a little too soft. So, maybe need to either reduce the milk or add more pumpkin.

Ingredients:
Short crust pastry (sweet) – see apple pie recipe for the pastry
Pumpkin (300gm- steamed and cut into small pieces)
Mixed spice (1/2 tsp)
Brown sugar (150gm)
Milk (300gm)
Egg (1)
Corn flour (1 tbsp)

Preheat oven at 180C.

Method:
1. Blend pumpkin, sugar, egg, milk, mixed spice and corn flour together.
2. Roll pastry into 2mm thick and line the pastry dish.
3. Poke holes with a fork.
4. Pour in the pumpkin mixture.
5. Bake for ~1 hour or until cooked (pumpkin is set).

Thanksgiving Desserts

A friend invited us over for a Thanksgiving dinner at her home and everyone brought something to feed us all. I am supposed to bake a pumpkin pie but I had no idea how to make one and I don’t want to risk a failure attempting it the first time in case we end up with no dessert. So, I baked the same old apple pie but just thought I’d make it more interesting with some decorations from the leftover pastry. Isn’t it a lovely pie? :)




Apart from the pie, I baked a chocolate cream cheese cake too. This is also the 2nd time I bake this cake and I think it’s better than the first time I make it. OK, at least I am improving and not the other way round ;p
We were too full from the turkey dinner and all the yummy food, so I brought this cake to Sunday church service. The cake was gone quickly and I am glad everyone loved it!

Mifen Soup version 2

Ingredients:
Mifen (soaked till soft in water)
Tomato (2-3, cut into wedges)
Chicken meat (cut into small pieces)
Button Mushroom (sliced)
Carrot (sliced)
Chinese cabbage (cut into slices)
Chicken Frankfurters (sliced)
Egg Tofu (cut into thick slices)
Oyster sauce
Soy sauce
Pepper
Garlic (crushed lightly)
Salt
Water


Method:
1. Boil water in a pot.
2. Add in garlic, tomatoes, cabbage, carrot and mushroom. Simmer for 10min.
3. Add in chicken meat, frankfurters and tofu.
4. Season with salt, pepper, oyster sauce and soy sauce.
5. Add in mifen and cook for 3-4min.
6. Serve hot.

Strawberry and Chocolate Marble cake

I've always like marble cake because the cake looks lovely with the marble effect. This one is from a recipe book but I modified it a little by adding yoghurt. Somehow, I find the cake a little dry a day after baking. Maybe a little bit more yoghurt will help :)

Ingredients:
Butter (150gm)
Sugar (3/4 cup)
Egg (2)
Vanilla Essence (1 tsp)
Yoghurt + Milk (1/2 cup)
Self Raising Flour (1 2/3 cup)
Strawberry Emulco (1 ½ tsp)
Cocoa Powder (3 tsp)
Oil

Preheat oven at 175C.

Method:
1. Beat butter and sugar till light and fluffy.
2. Add in egg one by one and beat till combined.
3. Mix in vanilla essence and yoghurt-milk mixture.
4. Sift in self raising flour and mix till combined.
5. Divide the mixture into 2 portions.
6. Add strawberry emulco to one portion and cocoa powder to the other portion.
7. Grease a baking pan.
8. Pour the mixture alternately into the baking pan. Swirl with a chopstick to create marble effect.
9. Bake for 35min or until cooked.

Pandan Cake with Roasted Sunflower Seeds

Ingredients:
Butter (130gm)
Sugar (120gm)
Egg (3)
Yoghurt (4 tbsp)
Pandan Emulco (1tbsp)
Self Raising Flour (190gm)
Roasted Sunflower Seeds
Oil

Preheat oven at 175C.


Method:
1. Beat butter and sugar till light and fluffy.
2. Add in egg one by one and beat till well combined.
3. Mix in yoghurt and pandan emulco.
4. Sift in self raising flour and mix till combined.
5. Add in sunflower seeds.
6. Grease baking pan with a little oil.
7. Pour mixture into baking pan and bake for 35min or till cooked.

Spaghetti in Chicken Mushroom Sauce

Want to make a quick spaghetti dish? :)


Ingredients:
Spaghetti (cooked per packet instruction)
Button Mushroom (sliced)
Chicken meat (minced)
Cauliflower (cut into small pieces)
Garlic (sliced)
Onion (sliced)
Mixed herbs
Salt
Olive oil
Chicken Soup (e.g. Campbell’s or any brand will do)
Water


Method:
1. Heat oil in a non-stick pan and sauté garlic till it turns golden brown.
2. Stir fry onion till fragrant.
3. Add in chicken meat, button mushroom and cauliflower and continue to stir fry for 3-4min. Add a little water if too dry.
4. Season with a little salt and mixed herbs.
5. Mix in spaghetti and chicken soup. Cook till soup becomes thick and coats the spaghetti.

Fried Rice with Pan Fried Dory Fish in Plum Sauce

Thought the fried rice was rather plain without meat, so added the fish. I think you can make it in any kind of sauce you like e.g. tomato sauce, black pepper, dark soy sauce, etc.

Ingredients:

Fried Rice
Cooked rice
Cauliflower
Dried shrimps (soaked till soft and chopped)
Button mushroom (cut into slices)
Garlic (chopped)
Soy Sauce
Oil
Water

Fish in Plum Sauce
Fish fillet
Pepper
Salt
Plum Sauce
Corn Flour
Water
Oil


Method:
1. To prepare the fish, marinate with salt and pepper for 30min.
2. Pan fry the fish on both sides till golden brown.
3. Add plum sauce and corn flour, then mix with a little water. Pour this mixture in the pan over the fish.
4. Cook till sauce thickens and coats the fish.
5. To prepare the fried rice, heat a little oil and brown garlic.
6. Add in dried shrimps and stir fry for 1-2min.
7. Add in cauliflower and button mushroom. Continue to stir fry for 2-3min.
8. Season with salt.
9. Mix in rice and add in soy sauce.
10. Add a little water if it’s too dry.
11. Stir fry for 2-3min. Serve hot with fish.

Pan Fried Dory Fish in Black Pepper Sauce

One of the dishes for dinner yesterday.

Ingredients:
Dory fish fillet
Black pepper sauce
Garlic and Onion (minced)
Salt
Oil
Water


Method:
1. Marinate fish with all ingredients except water and oil.
2. Heat a little oil in a non-stick pan.
3. Pan fry the fish (without the marinate sauce) till it gets brownish on both sides.
4. Add a little water to the marinate sauce and cook with the fish till sauce gets thick. Yummy with rice :)

Chinese Style Fried Mifen

I missed my mum's fried mifen, so tried to replicate her cooking....;p Not exactly the same (of course not same la since we're not the same ma ;p), but taste great too :)

Ingredients:
Mifen (soaked in water until soft)
Carrot (cut into thin strips)
Cabbage (shredded)
Chicken meat (minced/cut into small pieces)
Onion (cut into thin strips)
Garlic (chopped)
Dark Soy Sauce
Light Soy Sauce
Salt
Pepper
Oil
Water


Method:
1. Marinate chicken meat with light soy sauce and pepper. Leave aside for 30min.
2. Heat a little oil in a wok or non-stick pan. Saute garlic and onion till fragrant.
3. Add chicken meat and stir fry for 1-2min.
4. Add in carrot and cabbage. Stir fry for 1-2min. Season with salt.
5. Add in mifen.
6. Add dark soy sauce and mix evenly.
7. Continue to stir fry for 2-3min and add in water if it gets dry….and it’s done!
* Add light soy sauce and mix well if you find it not salty enough (optional).

Curry Soybean Noodles

I felt like something hot and spicy but don’t want to cook something too complicated. Here’s what I came up with. As usual, you can add your fav vege and meat.




Ingredients:
Soybean Noodles (soaked in water for a few min)
Garlic (chopped)
Button Mushroom (sliced)
Cabbage (cut into medium size pieces)
Chicken Frankfurters (cut in any size you like ;p)
Curry Powder (mix with a little water to form paste)
Salt
Soy Sauce
Sugar
Water
Oil


Method:
1. Heat oil in a wok and brown the garlic.
2. Add cabbage, frankfurters and button mushroom. Stir fry for ~2min.
3. Add in curry paste and mix well. Continue to stir fry for 2-3min.
4. Season with salt, sugar and soy sauce. Add in water and cook till it simmers.
5. Put in soybean noodles and cook till soft. Serve hot.

Rum & Raisin Cake

Whenever I go for ice-cream at Baskin Robbin’s, rum and raisin is always my first choice (although sometimes I do struggle between that and green tea flavour ;p). Since TH mentioned rum and raisin cake when I asked for suggestions on what else should I try, of course I want to give it a try! Unfortunately, I do not have enough rum so the cake didn’t have a strong rum taste. Nevertheless, it smells heavenly right out of the oven and the texture is good. It’s quite moist but not too ‘heavy’. I think this cake is perfect if only I added more rum.

Ingredients:
Self raising flour (200gm)
Soy Bean Powder or Milk Powder (3 tbsp)
Butter (150gm)
Sugar (130gm)
Egg (4)
Yoghurt (4 tbsp)
Raisin (1/2 cup)
Rum (3 tbsp)

Preheat oven at 175C.


Method:
1. Sift self raising flour and soy bean flour together and set aside.
2. Mix raisins and rum together and set aside.
3. Beat butter and sugar till light and fluffy.
4. Add in egg one by one and beat till well combined.
5. Add in yoghurt and mix well.
6. Fold in the flour mixture.
7. Mix in the raisin and rum.8. Bake for 35-40min or until cooked.

Peanut Delight Cake

I’ve always wanted to try decorating a cake with cream but the idea of making the cream seemed a little ambitious to me. Anyway, I’d still want to try it because if we don’t try it, we’ll never learn!

So, I flipped through my recipe book and saw a recipe for hazelnut cake. I only have peanuts, so I use the recipe to make a peanut cake instead. As for the cream, it’s from a different book because I find that it’s easier to make. I only made a modification by adding ground peanut in it.

Ingredients:
Cake
Egg (5)
Sugar (120gm)
Plain flour (90gm)
Ground peanut (40gm)
Baking powder (1/2 tsp)
Melted butter or vegetable oil (70gm)

Peanut Butter Cream
Butter (60gm)
Icing sugar (2/3 cup)
Cocoa powder (2 tbsp)
Milk (4 tbsp)
Ground peanut (4 tbsp)

Decoration
Chocolate Rice (for decoration)

Preheat oven at 180C


Method:
1. To prepare the cake, beat egg and sugar till fluffy and light.
2. Sift plain flour and baking powder and fold into the sugar mixture.
3. Add ground peanut and melted butter/oil and mix till combined.
4. Bake at 180C for 25min. Leave aside to cool.
5. To prepare the butter cream, beat butter and icing sugar till fluffy and light.
6. Mix in cocoa powder, milk and ground peanut till combined. Beat for 2-3min.
7. Cut the cake horizontally into 2.
8. Spread a layer of peanut butter cream on the first layer of the cake.
9. Place the second layer of the cake on top.
10. Spread the rest of the cream on top and on the side of the cake. Sprinkle some chocolate rice on top of the cake. Ta-daa….Done!

I love the peanut taste in this cake! It's very fattening with the peanut and cream, so eat at your own risk la...;p

*Keep refrigerated until serving time.

Vegetarian Mee Sua

By the time I reach home from work, I was already starving so I thought I’d better cook something that does not require much preparation and cooking time.
VIP said he wanted to have noodles but already sick of chicken, so here comes this vegetarian mee sua :)




Ingredients:
Mee Sua (soak in water for few min)
Broccoli
Carrot (sliced)
Oyster Mushroom
Tofu
Onion (cut into small pieces)
Black Pepper
Oyster Sauce
Salt
Soy sauce
Oil
Water


Method:
1. Heat a little oil in a wok and stir fry onions for 2-3min.
2. Add in carrot and broccoli. Stir fry for 3-4min.
3. Add in oyster mushroom. Season with black pepper and oyster sauce. Continue to stir fry for 1-2min.
4. Add in tofu and mix well.
5. Add water and cook till boiling.
6. Put in the mee sua (stir so it won’t stick together) and add salt and soy sauce to taste.
7. Cook for 1-2min and it’s ready!

Stir Fried Cucumber with Red Bell Pepper

Ingredients:
Cucumber (cut into slices)
Red bell pepper (cut into small pieces)
Garlic (chopped)
Dried shrimps (soaked and roughly chopped)
Salt
Oil
Water


Method:
1. Heat oil in a wok and brown garlic.
2. Add in dried shrimps and stir fry till fragrant.
3. Put in red bell pepper and cucumber. Stir fry for 4-5min.
4. Season with salt.
5. Add some water and cook till it simmers and cucumbers are soft.

Chicken and Wood Fungus in Dark Soy Sauce

Ingredients:
Chicken (cut into medium or bite sized pieces)
Wood fungus (soaked in hot water till soft and cut into bite size pieces)
Dark soy sauce
Light soy sauce
Pepper
Sugar
Salt
Ginger (3-4 pieces)
Garlic (crushed lightly)
Oil
Water
Corn flour


Method:
1. Marinate chicken with light and dark soy sauce, pepper and sugar for 1 hour.
2. Heat oil in a wok and sauté garlic and ginger for 1-2min.
3. Add in chicken and sit fry 2-3min.
4. Put in wood fungus and mix well.
5. Add a little salt.
6. Put some water and cook till it boils. Continue to cook with low heat for ~10-15min.
7. In a bowl, mix a little corn flour with water.
8. Pour this mixture and cook till sauce thickens.

Tuna Omelet

I cooked 3 dishes for last week’s dinner (forgot which day as I tend to lose track of time/date when I get busy ;p). Here’s the first one and this goes well with either bread or rice. The other 2 dishes are chicken with wood fungus and cucumber with red bell pepper.

Ingredients:
Tuna (canned)
Egg
Pepper
Oil
Salt (optional)


Method:
1. In a bowl, beat the egg/s and mix in tuna.
2. Season with pepper and salt (optional – up to taste preference).
3. Heat a little oil in a non-stick pan.
4. Pour the mixture and fry on both sides till cooked.

Orange Poppy Seed Muffin

This is a variation from one of the muffin recipes that I keep. I added yoghurt, poppyseed and also some toasted wheat germ for a little crunch ;p It's a little on the dry side (I think adding more yoghurt will help) and it's best eaten when it's warm :)


Ingredients:
Butter (1/3 cup)
Sugar (3/4 cup)
Salt (1/2 tsp)
Egg (1)
Plain Yoghurt (4 tbsp)
Orange Peel (chopped finely- 3tbsp)
Poppy Seed (2 ½ tbsp)
Toasted Wheat Germ (2 tbsp)
Plain Flour (1 ½ cup)
Baking Soda (1/2 tsp)
Baking Powder (1/2 tsp)

Preheat oven at 190C.


Method:
1. Beat butter, sugar, salt and egg till well combined.
2. Add yoghurt and orange peel.
3. Sift plain flour, baking soda and baking powder. Add in wheat germ and mix well.
4. Pour the dry ingredients into the wet mixture. Mix till just combined.
5. Fill muffin cups till 2/3 full and bake for 20min.

Quick Sushi

I was in SG last weekend and had a great time shopping there. Nope, didn’t buy any clothes or shoes or bags BUT I bought sushi moulds!!! Crazy huh? Well, I was in NTUC and checking out the Jap food section when I saw these cute little sushi moulds. I just couldn’t help buying them although it’s quite pricey (OK, everything is expensive after we convert it to RM ;p).

Buy already must use ma, right….so I made sushi for dinner last night and also breakfast. I had fun playing with the moulds and will surely make these again.






Ingredients:
Sushi rice (cooked per packet instruction)
Cucumber (cut into tiny pieces)
Sushi mix (these are sold in Jap food section-Jusco sells it too)
Oil


Method:
1. Mix all the ingredients in a bowl.
2. Start ‘masak-masak’ session with the cute little moulds.

Mashed Potato

I made this just for fun since the potatoes have been staring at me each time I check what's available in the fridge ;p
The original recipe from Petrina has bacon bits in it but I didn't buy it, so as usual, I just make do with whatever I have. What's new....Haha.. I had this for dinner last night with sushi (Yeah, I know it's a weird combination but who cares as long as it's tasty!)
This is super easy to make I think even a 3-year-old have no problem to do it.


Ingredients:
Potatoes (choose the type with reddish skin)
-I am sure there's a name to it but I don't know what it's called-
Eggs
Mayonaise (I used light mayo)
Ground black pepper (I don't have this, so I just use pepper)
Salt


Method:
1. Cook potatoes in boiling water till soft. You can remove the skin or choose to keep it. If you prefer it without the skin, peel the skin before cooking. Leave aside to let it cool.
2. Cook the eggs hard-boiled type.
3. Mash the potatoes together with the eggs.
4. Season with mayo, black pepper and salt.

Pasta in Baked Beans Sauce

Usually when I cook one dish meal for dinner that means either I am feeling lazy or it’s a busy time for me at work. I’ve been super busy since past 2 weeks so here’s another quick pasta dish I made for dinner.
While I was thinking what to cook, I saw this can of baked beans sitting in the cabinet, so I thought why not use it to make pasta sauce??? Hehe….and I think it really mixes well with pasta. You can even blend with some herbs! I’ll try that next time.

Ingredients:
Pasta (cook per packet instruction)
Baked beans
Cabbage (shredded)
Tomato (remove the seeds & cut into small pieces)
Garlic (chopped)
Salt
Oil
Water


Method:
1. Heat a little oil in wok and saute garlic for 1-2min.
2. Put in cabbage and tomatoes and stir fry for 1-2min.
3. Add in baked beans and season with salt.
4. Add some water and cook till it simmers.
5. Put in pasta and cook for 2-3min. Serve hot.

Chocolate Cream Cheese Cake

Who doesn't like chocolate cheese cake??? Love this cake...though a little sweet to my tastebud.

This recipe is from Peony's blog :)

http://myculinaryjournal.blogspot.com/2008/03/chocolate-cream-cheese-cake.html

I omitted the custard powder. Turns out great too!

Stir Fried Tomyam Angel Hair pasta

As you know, I love to mix things and create unusual recipes. This is another east meets west pasta dish and I really love it! It’s like eating dry laksa.

How did I think of this? Well, VIP requested fried noodles for dinner but since we just had fried instant noodles sometime last week, I don’t want to do a repeat.
I had something tomyam in mind but I did tomyam mifen before, so that is also out. So, I just see ingredients are available in the kitchen and there’s some leftover angel hair pasta and a can of tuna and so, that’s how this came about! We both loved it and I hope you give it a try too!

Variations: Try adding other vegetables or using different kinds of pasta.


Ingredients:
Angel hair pasta (cook as per packet instruction)
Onion (cut into slices)
Oyster mushroom (sliced)
Carrot (cut into thin strips)
Tomato (cut into strips)
Tuna fish (1 can)
Tomyam paste
Honey

Method:
1. Heat a little oil in a wok and sauté onion for 1-2min.
2. Add in tuna fish, carrot, oyster mushroom and tomato. Stir fry for 1-2min.
3. Add in tomyam paste and honey. Mix well.
4. Put in angel hair pasta and stir fry for 1-2min and it’s done. Yummy!

Cornflakes Cookies

This is really very easy to make. I modified the recipe a little from the original version to speed up the process because I don’t want to be baking till the clock strikes midnight ;p
The original recipe calls for the cookie to be rolled in the crushed cornflakes before baking. I just mixed everything in :)


Ingredients:
Flour (2 cups)
Cornflakes – crushed (2 cups)
Salt (1/4 tsp)
Butter (1 cup)
Sugar (2/3 cup)
Vanilla essence (1tsp)

Preheat oven at 190C.


Method:
1. Mix butter, sugar, salt and vanilla essence and beat till combined.
2. Add in flour and corn flakes. Mix until it forms soft dough.
3. Portion and shape into small round balls. Flatten using a fork and place on a baking tray.
4. Bake for 20 minutes.

Note: This recipe yields one medium size container of cookies.

Honey Coconut Cake

First time baking with honey and I must say it’s quite tricky to bake the cake till it’s cooked and yet make sure the bottom of the cake is not burnt. I don’t know what's the foolproof way but it’s better not to bake at the lowest rack in the oven and bake at a lower temperature if you see the cake turning golden brown.




Ingredients:
Butter (120gm)
Sugar (2/3 cup)
Egg (2)
Vanilla essence (1tsp)
Honey (1/4 cup)
Milk (1/2 cup)
Self raising flour (1 ¾ cup)
Nutmeg powder (1tsp)
Cinnamon powder (1/4 tsp)
Desiccated coconut (1/4 cup)

Preheat oven at 170C.


Method:
1. Beat butter, sugar and vanilla essence until fluffy.
2. Add in egg one by one and continue beating till it mixes well.
3. Add in milk and honey and beat till combined.
4. Sift nutmeg powder, cinnamon powder and self raising flour. Mix in desiccated coconut.
5. Fold the dry ingredients into the mixture in no. 3.
6. Pour mixture into a greased baking dish.
7. Bake for 35min or until cooked.

Vegetarian Fried Noodles

I couldn’t remember when was the last time I cooked fried noodles because anything fried seems to be associated with lots of oil. Anyway, I used very little oil here and it turned out well.

No sticking on the wok too much. I’d reckon if you use a non stick pan, it’ll be even easier!

Ingredients:
Instant noodles (cooked for a few minutes until it’s semi-soft)
Carrot (cut into thin strips)
Oyster mushroom (sliced)
Cabbage (cut into thin strips)
Garlic (chopped)
Oyster sauce
Salt
Light Soya sauce
Dark soya sauce
Pepper
Oil


Method:
1. Heat a little oil in the wok and saute garlic for 1-2min.
2. Add in carrot and cabbage. Stir fry for 2-3min.
3. Put in oyster mushroom and season with oyster sauce, salt and pepper.
4. Add in noodles and mix well.
5. Put in some dark soya sauce and mix to coat noodles with an even color.
6. If you need to make it more salty, add a little light soya sauce. Otherwise, just stir fry for 1-2min and it’s ready to be served.

Note: If the noodles get too dry, add a little water.

Corn and Raisin Muffin

I find these muffins a little too sweet, so might be better to reduce the sugar content next time. The corn gave these muffin a good aroma especially when they’re fresh out of the oven :)




Ingredients:
Flour (1 ½ cup)
Baking powder (1 tsp)
Baking soda (1 tsp)
Salt (1/2 tsp)
Sugar (3/4 cup)
Egg (1)
Butter (1/3 cup)
Sweet corn (4tbsp)
Raisin (3tbsp)

Preheat oven at 190C.


Method:
1. Beat butter, eggs, sugar and salt till light and creamy.
2. Mix in the corn and raisin.
3. Fold in flour, baking powder and baking soda (sift together first).
4. Scoop the mixture into muffin cups.
5. Bake for 20-25 min or until cooked.

Carrot Cake

Past Monday was Deepavali Day and since it’s a public holiday, the church had a small gathering over lots of yummy BBQ food. I brought salad and this carrot cake. Well, since it’s an off day for me, I’ll definitely utilize the time to do some baking! Haha….
After turning the pages of a recipe book, I’ve decided to bake a carrot cake.

As usual, I made some modifications to the recipe ;p
One was to replace the pineapple with canned peach and the other is adding yoghurt to the cake. I find that yoghurt is good in keeping the cake moist, so I like to dump some into the mixture. The outcome? This carrot cake is soft, moist and not too sweet. I think the mixed spice also gave it a flavourful taste.

Ingredients:
Oil (1 cup)
Eggs (3)
Caster sugar (1 cup)
Yoghurt (2tbsp)
Grated carrot (3 cups)
Pineapple/ Peach - chopped (3 tbsp)
Raisin (2 tbsp)
Mixed spice (2 tsp)
Self raising flour (2 ¼ cup)

Preheat oven at 175C.

Method:
1. Beat oil, eggs and sugar till light and creamy.
2. Mix in yoghurt, carrot, pineapple/peach and raisin.
3. Fold in mixed spice and self raising flour (sift together first).
4. Grease the baking dish and pour in mixture.
5. Bake for 45 min or until cooked.

Turmeric Fried Fish

I bought 2 fishes last weekend and since I have steamed one, I thought I’ll just simply fry this one. If you don’t like turmeric powder, you can omit it.

Ingredients:
Fish (cleaned and make 2-3 cuts on the body on both sides)
Turmeric powder
Pepper
Salt
Light soy sauce
Oil


Method:
1. Marinate fish with salt, pepper and turmeric powder for ~30min.
2. Heat some oil in a frying pan.
3. Fry fish on both sides till golden brown.
4. Dish up and pour 1 tbsp of light soy sauce over the fish.

Stir Fried Potatoes in Dark Soy Sauce

A stand alone dish?? Almost….since it’s only potatoes and onions.
Well, I really don't have much vegetables left in the fridge, so I just cook whatever that's left ;p
Although this is simple, it taste nice :)



Ingredients:
Potato (cut into slices)
Onions (cut into wedges)
Dark soy sauce
Pepper
Salt
Sugar
Oil
Water


Method:
1. Heat a little oil in a wok and saute the onions.
2. Put in the potatoes and stir fry for 5-6min.
3. Add in dark soy sauce, salt, sugar and pepper. Mix well.
4. Add enough water and cook till potatoes are soft.

Soy Bean Noodles

Another extremely easy dish.

Ingredients:
Soy bean noodles (soaked till soft)
Lettuce
Carrot (cut into thin strips)
Chicken (cut into bite size & marinate with a little light soy sauce)
Button mushroom (cut into slices)
Garlic (chopped)
Black pepper sauce
Marmite sauce
Salt
Oil
Water


Method:
1. Heat a little oil in a wok and brown the garlic.
2. Add in carrot and button mushroom. Stir fry for 1-2min.
3. Add in chicken meat and continue to stir fry for 1-2min.
4. Pour in mixture of marmite and black pepper sauce. Add water and cook till it boils.
5. Add in the noodles and cook for 1min. Season with salt.
6. Add in lettuce, mix well and serve.

Tofu in Tomato & Black Pepper Sauce

I am short of one dish for dinner and didn’t know what else I can cook. Then, I just ‘list down’ the ingredients that I have in my mind and started to imagine what can I do with them. So, here’s the experimental dish which taste quite good :)

Ingredients:
Potato (sliced)
Egg tofu (cut into thick slices)
Tomatoes (cut into small pieces)
Garlic (chopped)
Tomato sauce
Black pepper sauce
Salt
Water
Oil


Method:
1. Heat oil in a wok and saute garlic for 1-2min.
2. Add in potatoes and stir fry for 4-5min.
3. Add in tomatoes and continue to stir fry for 1-2min.
4. In a bowl, mix tomato and black pepper sauce with water.
5. Pour this over and let it simmer. Season with a little salt.
6. Add in the egg tofu and cook for 1-2min. Serve hot.

Stir Fried Lettuce

One of the idiot-proof dishes for dinner….

Ingredients:
Lettuce
Carrot
Button mushroom
Salt
Soy sauce
Water
Oil


Method:
1. Heat oil in a wok and saute garlic for 1-2min.
2. Add in carrot and button mushroom. Stir fry for 3-4min.
3. Add in lettuce and season with some salt and soy sauce.
4. Add a little water.
5. Cook till it boils and dish up.

Tom Yam Mi Fen (Soup)

I cooked this for lunch last Saturday as I felt lazy to go out for lunch and it’s easier than having to think what to eat.
You must be wondering why are there tofu in tom yam soup??? Well, I didn’t put any meat (except those little dried shrimps) in it, so tofu will make it more filling. Anyway, I love tofu, so I like to add it in soups. :)


Ingredients:
Mi Fen (soaked in water till soft)
Dried shrimps (soaked and chopped)
Tomatoes (cut into wedges)
Cabbage
Tofu
Onions (cut into small pieces)
Garlic (crush lightly)
Tom Yam paste
Salt
Honey
Water
Oil


Method:
1. Heat oil in a wok and saute the garlic for 1-2min.
2. Add in onions and dried shrimps and stir fry till fragrant.
3. Put in cabbage and tomatoes. Add a little salt and stir fry for 3-4min.
4. Put in tom yam paste and honey. Add water and let it simmer till tomatoes and cabbages are soft.
5. Add in the mi fen and tofu and cook till it’s soft. Done.

Note: You always add different vegetables e.g. young corns, carrot, mushrooms, etc but I just put in whatever I can find in the fridge ;p.

Pork & Preserved Salted Vegetables Porridge

As usual, I cooked this over the night with the slow cooker. The slow cooker is really useful for busy (and lazy) people like me (OK, I am more on the lazy side ;p).


Ingredients:
Pork (cut it anyway you like)
Preserved salted vegetables
Carrot (diced)
Brown rice
Water
Pepper


Method:
1. Wash the rice 2-3 times and put it into the slow cooker.
2. Put everything into the slow cooker. Add water.
3. Cook with high heat till boiling then switch to auto mode. Leave it till meal time.
4. Add a dash of pepper before serving.

Note: Do not add salt as the salted vegetables, as the name has it, is salty enough!

Marmite Salmon

One of the super quick dishes for dinner.


Ingredients:
Salmon fish
Button mushrooms (sliced)
Onion (cut into small pieces)
Marmite sauce
Honey
Pepper
Water
Oil


Method:
1. Heat pan with a little oil and sauté the onions.
2. Add in the button mushrooms and stir fry for 1-2min.
3. Move the onions and mushrooms aside in the pan.
4. Pan fry the salmon for 1min. Turn and fry the other side for 1min.
5. In a bowl, mix marmite and honey and add some water.
6. Pour this over the fish and add in a dash of pepper.
7. Cook till boiling and it’s done.

Note: You can thicken sauce with corn flour if you like.
I did not add any salt as the marmite sauce is a little salty.

Marble Cake

It’s been a crazy week at work and so I needed to do some baking/cooking. Yes, it works wonder as therapy! Haha….I’ve always told my friends that I definitely enrolled in the wrong course. I should not have studied economics, but HOME economics ;p

This is again a ‘midnight’ cake because by the time it’s done, it was almost midnight.
I love marble cake. It gives us the freedom to create whatever ‘patterns’ we like with the cake. Instead of mixing half of the portion with chocolate powder, you can always mix it with something else e.g. pandan flavour, strawberry flavour, etc.

Ingredients:
Self raising flour (190gm)
Soy bean powder (3 tbsp)
Cocoa powder (3 tbsp)
Butter (150gm)
Castor/brown sugar (120gm)
Eggs (3)
Vanilla essence (1tsp)
Yoghurt (4 tbsp)

Preheat oven at 170C.

Method:
1. Cream butter, sugar and vanilla essence.
2. Add in the egg one by one and mix well.
3. Add in yoghurt and mix well.
4. Sift self raising flour and soy bean powder.
5. Fold the dry ingredients into the butter-sugar mixture.
6. Divide into 2 portions.
7. Add cocoa powder to 1 portion.
8. Grease the baking dish. Pour the cocoa mixture on one side of the dish and the original mixture to the other side.
9. Use a fork/spoon to make crisscross pattern.
10. Bake for 35-40 minutes or until cooked.