Stir Fried Tomyam Spaghetti

Ingredients:
Spaghetti (cooked per packet instruction)
Big Onion
Tuna
Carrot
Green Bell Pepper
Button Mushroom
Tomyam Paste
Salt
Sugar
Water (boiled)
Oil


Method:
1. Heat some oil and stir fry onion till fragrant.
2. Add in tomyam paste and stir fry for 1 while.
3. Add in green bell pepper, carrot and button mushroom. Stir fry for 1 min.
4. Add in tuna and season with salt and sugar.
5. Add a little bit of water if it gets too dry.6. Put in spaghetti and mix well. Stir fry for 1min and it’s done.

Noodles in Chicken Herbal Soup

Ingredients:
Chicken Meat
Wolfberries (gei ji)
Tong Sum
Pak Kei
Yoke Juk
Red Dates
Water
Salt
Soy Noodles (soaked till soft)
Tofu
Iceberg Lettuce


Method:
1. Place chicken, water and all the herbs into a slow cooker.
2. Use high heat and cook for at least 4-5 hours.
3. Season with salt when soup is done.
4. Scoop some soup into another pot, cook till it boils.
5. Add in tofu, noodles and lettuce.
6. Cook for 1min or so and it’s ready to be served.

Fried MiFen with Chicken Meat

Ingredients:
Chicken Meat
Light Soy Sauce
Pepper
Sesame Oil
MiFen (soaked in water till soft-drained)
Garlic
Carrot
Choy Sum
Sugar
Oyster Sauce
Dark Soy Sauce
Oil
Water (boiled)


Method:
1. Marinate chicken meat with light soy sauce, pepper and sesame oil for 30min or so.
2. Heat some oil and sauté garlic till fragrant.
3. Add in carrot and stir fry for 1 min.
4. Add in chicken meat and choy sum. Season with salt, sugar and a little oyster sauce.
5. Stir fry for a while. Add some water and cook till it simmer.
6. Add in mifen and season with dark soy sauce. Mix well.
7. Continue to stir fry until mifen is cooked (if too dry, add a little boiled water).

Braised Soy Sauce Fish

Ingredients:
Fish
Salt
Pepper
Light Soy Sauce
Sugar
Water
Sesame Oil
Oil
Ginger
Shallots


Method:
1. Rub some salt and pepper onto the fish and marinate for 30min or so.
2. Heat a little oil and pan fried fish on both sides. Set fish aside.
3. Heat some sesame oil and sauté shallots and ginger till fragrant.
4. Mix light soy sauce, sugar and water and pour into the wok.
5. Put in the fish and let it cook/simmer over low heat.
6. Turn the fish and cook till fish is cooked.

Sesame Chiffon Cake

Open sesame....unveiling another out of the world flavour for a chiffon cake :)

Ingredients:
(A)
Egg Yolks (6)
Plain Flour (7 tbsp)
Ground Black Sesame (4 tbsp)
Oil (1 tbsp)
Water (5 tbsp)
Sugar (1 tbsp)

(B)
Egg Whites (6)
Sugar (5 ½ tbsp)
Corn Flour (1 tbsp)

White Sesame Seeds

Preheat oven at 180C
(As usual, I reduced temperature to 170C during the last 15min of baking.)

Method:
1. Mix (A) in a bowl and beat till combined.
2. In another bowl, beat egg whites till soft peak forms.
3. Add sugar and beat till shiny and glossy.
4. Add corn flour and beat till it’s almost stiff (turn the bowl upside down and the egg whites should not fall).
5. Fold in 1/3 of egg whites into the (A) mixture.
6. Repeat 2 more times adding 1/3 each time.
7. Pour into a chiffon cake mould and sprinkle some white sesame seeds on top.
8. Bake for 45-50min or till cooked.9. Invert the cake to cool. Un-mould using a thin knife by loosening the sides.

Coffee Chiffon with Chocolate Chips

I am experimenting with different flavours of chiffon cake. Here’s a coffee version bursting with chocolate chips!


Ingredients:

(A)

Egg Yolks (6)

Flour (6 tbsp)

Instant 3-in-1 coffee powder (3 packets mixed with 4 tbsp of water)
Oil (1 tbsp)

(B)

Egg Whites (6)

Sugar (4 ½ tbsp)

Corn Flour (1 tbsp)

(C)Chocolate Chips

Preheat oven at 180C

Note: I reduced the temperature to 170C during the last 15min of baking

Method:

1. Mix (A) in a bowl and beat till combined.

2. In another bowl, beat egg whites till soft peak forms.

3. Add sugar and beat till shiny and glossy.

4. Add corn flour and beat till it’s almost stiff (turn the bowl upside down and the egg whites should not fall).

5. Fold in 1/3 of egg whites into the (A) mixture.

6. Repeat 2 more times adding 1/3 each time.

7. Lastly, gently fold in the chocolate chips.

8. Pour into a chiffon cake mould and bake for 45-50min or till cooked.
9. Invert the cake to cool. Un-mould using a thin knife by loosening the sides.

Pumpkin Rice

If you’ve never had pumpkin before, you should really give it a chance. I don’t recall my mum cooking any pumpkin dish until I was almost 12 or older. In the beginning, I hated it because I thought it’s like eating savoury sweet potato. I don’t really remember how I grew to love it but it was probably the time when I tasted pumpkin rice which my colleague brought into the office for her breakfast. Since then, I’ve decided I should give this squash a second chance and knowing how much nutrient you get from it makes it easier. It’s full of anti-oxidants, beta carotene (which converts to Vitamin A), niacin, vitamin E, calcium and iron!

Well, the next time you’re feeling tired to prepare a 3-4 dishes meal, try this one pot meal. The pumpkin brings subtle sweetness to the rice and blends in really well with dried shrimps and mushrooms (just like yam). In a way, this is like an adaptation from yam rice but I added some carrot as I love to have more vegetables in my meal.


Ingredients:
Rice (I used brown rice)
Pumpkin (cut into cubes)
Carrot
Dried Shrimps (soaked and chopped)
Shallots
Dried Mushroom (soaked and cut into small pieces)
Bean Paste (~1 tbsp)
Dark Soy Sauce
Oyster Sauce
Salt
Sugar
Pepper
Oil
Water


Method:
1. Heat some oil and saute shallots.
2. Add in dried shrimps and stir fry till fragrant.
3. Add in mushroom and carrot. Stir fry for 1 min.
4. Add in pumpkin.
5. Season with bean paste, oyster sauce, sugar, dark soy sauce and pepper.
6. Pour in the rice and mix well. Add in enough water (this really requires some agak-agak skill because you’ll need to add a little extra water than you usually need to cook the rice).
7. Season with a little salt.
8. Transfer everything to the rice cooker and cook rice as usual.

Green Tea & Red Bean Chiffon Cake

Ohaiyo-gozaimasu….Konnichiwa….Jap class?
No….but just a very Japanese chiffon cake ^_^

Yay!!! I am so happy with this cake. It’s so lovely with the red beans that I couldn’t help staring at the cake for a minute. “Stop staring at the cake….”. Who’s that? Oh…it’s hubby. Guess he must have thought I was obsessed with it. Hahaha….
Well, I am happy because it’s the first time I made this combination of chiffon cake and the red beans didn’t sink to the bottom of the cake. Phew…what a relief and I felt a sense of achievement.

The only thing I’d change from the recipe is the amount of green tea powder. It can be increased to 3 tsp.


Ingredients:
(A)
Egg Yolks (6)
Flour (6 tbsp)
Water (4 tbsp)
Oil (1 tbsp)
Sugar (1 tbsp)
Green Tea Powder (2 tsp) – add 1 more tsp for stronger green tea taste

(B)
Egg Whites (6)
Sugar (5 ½ tbsp)
Corn Flour (1 tbsp)

(C)
Red Bean (6 tbsp- cooked till soft)


Preheat oven at 180C
Note: I reduced the temperature to 170C during the last 15min of baking


Method:
1. Mix (A) in a bowl and beat till combined.
2. In another bowl, beat egg whites till soft peak forms.
3. Add sugar and beat till shiny and glossy.
4. Add corn flour and beat till it’s almost stiff (turn the bowl upside down and the egg whites should not fall).
5. Fold in 1/3 of egg whites into the (A) mixture.
6. Repeat 2 more times adding 1/3 each time.
7. Lastly, gently fold in red beans.
8. Pour into a chiffon cake mould and bake for 45-50min or till cooked.

9. Invert the cake to cool. Un-mould using a thin knife by loosening the sides.

Stir Fried Spiral Pasta with Teriyaki Chicken

It’s been pouring here for the past few days and rainy days somehow often make me feel lazy. I, originally wanted to cook teriyaki chicken and a vege for dinner but changed my mind to cook just a one-dish meal for dinner. Hubby, who is forever very supportive of my cooking said “ok”. Hehe…so, I chose the easy way yesterday with this pasta. These spiral pasta (am sure they have an Italian name, but you don’t expect me to remember, do you??) are so colourful and it seemed to have this “cheer-you-up” effect as you cook them.

No, I’ve not gone crazy. I just love food :)


Ingredients:
Chicken Meat (de-boned)
Teriyaki Sauce
Pasta (cooked per packet instruction)
Carrot
Broccoli
Onion
Dark Soy Sauce
Salt
Black Pepper
Oil (I used olive oil)
Water


Method:
1. Marinate chicken meat with teriyaki sauce for a few hours or overnight.
2. Heat some oil and stir fry onion till fragrant.
3. Add in carrot and broccoli. Stir fry for 1 min.
4. Add in chicken and stir fry for a while.
5. Season with dark soy sauce, black pepper and salt.
6. Add a little bit of water if it’s too dry and cook till it simmers.
7. Add in the pasta and stir fry for 1-2min.

Dig in!

Chicken Stew with Potatoes and Carrot

After the muffin experiment with rosemary, I still have some of the herb in the fridge and so tried to cook it with this chicken dish. I simply love the aroma of the rosemary which makes this comfort food even more heart warming (OK, depends who you’re going to eat with ;p). Herbs are really amazing plants. They come in “small packages”, as in most have tiny leaves, but a little bit of them bring out so much flavor in a dish. Rosemary keeps real well in the fridge and after this chicken stew, I still have some of it. Hhmm… I think I am going to experiment it with fish next.


Ingredients:
Chicken Meat
Carrot
Potatoes
Shallots
Garlic
Fresh Rosemary
Salt
Sugar
Pepper
Cooking Wine
Dark Soy Sauce
Oil
Water
Corn Flour (optional)

Method:
1. Marinate chicken meat with salt, sugar, pepper and cooking wine 2-3 hours (I marinated it overnight).
2. Heat some oil and saute garlic and shallots until fragrant.
3. Add in potatoes and stir fry for ~2min.
4. Add in carrot and continue to stir fry for another 1min.
5. Add in chicken meat (pour in marinade as well).
6. Season with dark soy sauce, salt and sugar.
7. Add water and cook with medium heat till it simmers.
8. Then, switch to low heat and cook till potatoes are soft.
9. Add in rosemary and cook for another minute.
10. Serve with rice.

Note: If you want to thicken the gravy, just mix a little corn flour with water before adding in the rosemary. Cook till it simmers.

Strawberry-Lemon-Rosemary Muffins

Even if you don’t like the muffins, you’ll love the muffin cups. Haha…aren’t these lovely?
I was inspired to bake using the combo of strawberry, lemon and rosemary after reading dailydelicious’ blog. To me, it’s so English and it just makes me want to bake! I didn’t follow her recipe for the usual reason; I don’t have all the ingredients. ;p

The only disappointment was the rosemary. I thought the lovely smell would permeate my kitchen while the muffins were baking but I didn’t really smell anything. I guess I should add more of it next time, probably 1 tbsp instead of 1 tsp.


Ingredients:
Plain Flour (2 cups)
Baking Powder (3 tsp)
Salt (1/2 tsp)
Sugar (3/4 cup)
Egg (1)
Oil (1/4 cup)
Milk (1 cup)
Strawberries (1 cup or more, if you love the fruit)
Grated Lemon Rind (1 tbsp)
Fresh Rosemary (1 tsp-finely chopped)


Preheat oven at 190C

Method:
1. Mix flour, baking powder, salt and sugar in a bowl.
2. In another bowl, mix egg, milk, oil, rosemary and lemon rind.
3. Pour the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients.
4. Mix till combined.
5. Mix in the strawberries.
6. Spoon into the muffin cups and bake for 25min or until cooked.

Stir Fried Chicken with Ginger and Spring Onion

Stir Fried Cabbage with Carrot

Stir Fried Chicken with Ginger and Spring Onion

I cooked these for lunch in church 2 weeks ago; chicken with ginger and spring onion and stir fried cabbage with carrot. Just simple food, the kind I usually cook for our dinner. Nicholas had lots of the cabbage and he ate it as if he was eating salad although it’s meant to go with rice. I was glad that he enjoyed it and who says we had to force kids to eat vege? ;p

The chicken is one of my favourite dishes as I love anything with lots of ginger and spring onion. :)


Ingredients:
Chicken Meat (de-boned)
Cooking Wine
Sugar
Salt
Pepper
Light Soy Sauce
Sesame Oil
Ginger
Garlic
Spring Onion
Oyster Sauce
Oil
Water
Corn Flour (optional)


Method:
1. Marinate chicken meat with cooking wine, salt, sugar, pepper, light soy sauce and sesame oil for 1 hour or so.
2. Heat some oil in a wok and saute the garlic and ginger until fragrant.
3. Add in some spring onion (the harder, whitish part nearer to the root) and stir fry till fragrant.
4. Put in the chicken and stir fry for 1min.
5. Season with a little bit of oyster sauce, salt and sugar.
6. Add some water and cook till it simmers.
7. Add in the rest of the spring onion and cook for another minute.
8. Dish up and serve hot.

Note: If you wish to thicken the sauce, mix some corn flour with water and pour it into the mixture (when you add the rest of the spring onion). Cook till it simmers.

Orange Poppy Seed Chiffon Cake

Ingredients:
(A)
Egg Yolks (4)
Plain Flour (4 tbsp)
Oil (1 tbsp)
Water (2tbsp)
Sugar (1 tbsp)
Poppy Seeds (1 tbsp)
Grated Orange Rind (1 tbsp + 1 tsp)

(B)
Egg Whites (4)
Sugar (5 tbsp)
Corn Flour (1 tbsp)


Preheat oven at 180C


Method:
1. In a bowl, beat (A) till combined.
2. In another clean and dry bowl, beat egg whites till soft peak forms.
3. Then add in sugar and corn flour. Beat till stiff. (If you turn the bowl upside down, the mixture should not fall).
4. Add 1/3 of egg whites mixture into (A). Mix till combined. Repeat with the remaining egg whites by adding 1/3 each time.
5. Pour mixture into a chiffon cake mould and bake for 40-45min or until cooked.
6. Once cooked, take it out of the oven and invert the baking pan to let the cake cool.
7. Use a thin knife to loosen the edges and the bottom of the cake and turn the cake out onto a flat plate.

Wheat Bran Orange Muffins

I ran out of bread for today’s breakfast, or that was what I thought last night. So, what’s good for breakfast and easy to make? Muffins, of course! My fridge is almost empty (OK, that’s just my interpretation when it’s running low on the things that I need) and the muffin recipe that I normally use calls for 1 cup of milk but there is no more milk at home. So, I simply replaced it with 1 cup of soy milk. There was still some soy milk powder left, so just mix that with some water and it works too!

Aren't these pretty?

Hubby just can't wait to try it....this one was just out of the oven.

Ingredients:
Wheat Bran (1/2 cup)
Plain Flour (1 ½ cup)
Sugar (3/4 cup)
Salt (1/2 tsp)
Baking Powder (3 tsp)
Egg (1)
Oil (1/4 cup)
Soy Milk (1 cup)
Grated Orange Rind (2 tbsp)
Vanilla Essence (1 tsp)

Preheat oven at 190C


Method:
1. Mix wheat bran, flour, sugar, salt and baking powder in a bowl.
2. In another bowl, mix egg, oil, milk, vanilla essence and orange rind.
3. Pour the wet mixture into the dry mixture. Mix till combined.
4. Spoon into muffin cups and bake for 25min or until cooked.

Whole Wheat Spaghetti with Chicken and Basil

I cooked this sometime back for dinner and enjoyed it very much. I think it was the first time I cooked with basil although I’ve always wanted to experiment with fresh basil. Simply love the taste and aroma and it’s become one of my favourite herbs.


Ingredients:
Whole Wheat Spaghetti (cooked per packet instruction)
Carrot
Chicken
Basil
Black Pepper
Light Soy Sauce
Cooking Wine
Salt
Sugar
Garlic
Onion
Olive Oil


Method:
1. Heat some oil and saute garlic and onion till it starts to brown.
2. Add in the carrot and stir fry for 1min.
3. Put in the chicken and stir fry for 1 min.
4. Season with salt, sugar and cooking wine.
5. Add in the pasta and mix well.
6. Season with light soy sauce and black pepper to taste.
7. Add in the basil and stir fry for 1/2min and it’s done!

Salmon in Ginger Soy Sauce

Another variation.

Ingredients:
Salmon
Salt
Pepper
Ginger
Spring Onion
Bell Pepper (Red & Green)
Light Soy Sauce
Water
Oil


Method:
1. Marinate salmon with salt and pepper for at least 30min.
2. Using a non stick pan, pan fry salmon until both sides are cooked. Dish up on a plate.
3. Heat a little oil and sauté ginger until fragrant.
4. Add in bell pepper. Then, add in spring onion.
5. Pour in mixture of light soy sauce and water.
6. Cook till sauce simmers and pour onto the salmon.

Marmite Salmon (Version 2)

This is usually how I cook salmon. :)

Ingredients:
Salmon
Salt
Pepper
Marmite Sauce
Sugar
Corn Flour
Water
Onion
Spring Onion


Method:
1. Marinate salmon with salt and pepper for at least 30min.
2. Using a non stick pan, pan fry salmon until both sides are cooked. Dish up on a plate.
3. Heat a little oil and stir fry onion. When onion is a little soft, add in spring onion.
4. In a bowl, mix marmite sauce, corn flour, sugar and water.
5. Pour the mixture in and cook till sauce thickens.
6. Pour onto salmon. Serve hot with rice.

Strawberry Jam Cheese Tart

These definitely don’t look as nice as those sold in the bakeries but taste just as yummy. It’s perfect for afternoon tea especially when it’s fresh out of the oven. Mine’s a bit burnt as I over-baked them a little. 10 minutes should be good.


Ingredients:
Plain Flour (250gm)
Butter (150gm)
Cold Water (a few tbsp)
Salt (1/2 tsp)
Cream Cheese (~150gm)
Butter (30gm)
Strawberry Jam


Preheat oven at 190C

Method:
1. Mix salt into the flour.
2. Dice butter (150gm) and rub it into the flour mixture.
3. Add cold water slowly to the mixture and form a dough. Do not knead.
4. Wrap dough with cling wrap and refrigerate for 30min or so.
5. Take out the dough and roll the pastry into 3-5mm thickness. Cut and press into tart mould.
6. Bake the pastry for 15-20min or until light golden brown.
7. Leave the pastry to cool.
8. Beat cream cheese with butter until light and smooth.
9. Spoon some cream cheese mixture into the pastry case. Add in some strawberry jam and swirl the mixture.
10. Bake for ~10min.

Egg-less Wheat Germ & Wheat Bran Mango Muffins

This is IT….the healthiest muffins I’ve ever baked. It has no egg but added with wheat germ and wheat bran. Check out the benefits for both wheat germ and wheat bran here:
http://www.harvestcoop.com/oldSite/pages/resource/nutrition/sndbites/496.html

I’ve always wanted to bake muffins without using egg not because I am a vegetarian (far from it ;p), but because egg is one of food to avoid if you have problems with cholesterol level. Since I omitted the egg, I added 2 more tbsp of yoghurt to the mixture but I think an extra 1 tbsp instead of 2 will do too.

The verdict? The muffins smells great when I took them out of the oven and the texture reminded me of whole wheat bread. I think it’s due to the wheat bran because I have added wheat germ before in muffins but it didn’t give the same texture as these. They’re also very moist (am sure, thanks to the yoghurt) and not too sweet. I don’t quite like the mangoes in the muffins though as it turned soft after baking. Probably, apples would be a better choice (if you do apples, make sure to add some cinnamon and nutmeg powder as these 2 spices combine so perfectly well with apples). Adding some nuts e.g. walnuts would be great too!

Oh, if you’re not a fan of whole wheat bread or anything healthy, you can skip this lest you curse me for wasting your time baking ;p


Ingredients:
Plain Flour (1 ½ cup)
Wheat Germ + Wheat Bran (1 cup)
Note: it’s up to you whether you want both in equal amounts or in different proportions
Salt (1/2 tsp)
Baking Powder (3 tsp)
Caster Sugar/ Brown Sugar (3/4 cup)
Plain Yoghurt (4 tbsp)
Milk (1 cup)
Oil (1/4 cup)


Preheat oven at 190C

Method:
1. Mix plain flour, wheat germ, wheat bran, salt and sugar well.
2. In another bowl, mix milk, yoghurt and oil.
3. Pour the wet ingredients into the dry mixture in no. 1.
4. Spoon into muffin cups/tray and bake for 30min or until cooked.