Dinner_21 March10

Here's what we had for dinner today :) I love these simple dishes. Hhmm...couldn't finish the pumpkin so might think of what to do with the leftovers tomorrow;p

Stir Fried Kailan with Garlic, Chicken Soup, Chicken and Vegetables Stew with Rosemary & Pumpkin and Mushroom with Fermented Black Beans.

Mango Chiffon Cake

This cake is very soft and nice to eat especially after it's cooled in a fridge, but unfortunately the mango taste is not strong. I don't want to put mango essence, so maybe will need to put in some very ripe mango or just add in more mango puree.

Ingredients:

A.

Egg Yolks (6)

Plain Flour (9 tbsp)

Mango Puree (2/3 of a mango - cut into small cubes, blend with 4 tbsp of water)

Sugar (1tbsp)

Oil (1tbsp)

B.

Egg Whites (6)

Sugar (6tbsp)

Corn Flour (1tbsp)

C.

Mango (cut remaining 1/3 of mango into small pieces)

Preheat oven at 170C.

Method:

1. Mix all ingredients in A together and leave aside first.

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

3. Add in sugar and beat for 3min or so.

4. Add in corn flour and beat until the mixture becomes quite stiff. When you turn the bowl upside down, the mixture will not drop.

5. Take 1/3 of the egg white mixture and mix evenly with the mixture in A. Continue to mix 2 more times with the other 2 portions of 1/3 of egg whites mixture.

6. Add in C and mix well. Do not overmix.

7. Pour into a chiffon cake pan and bake for 50-55min.

8. Invert the cake once out of oven. Unmould when the cake is cool.

This cake is best eaten after being cooled in the fridge for a few hours.

Raisin and Walnut Cupcakes

This cake is very easy to make and yet the result is excellent. The cake is fluffy, moist and the aroma of the toasted nuts in the cake really makes me want a second piece of it. If you want to bake a simple and nice cake, I would say this is it.

You could bake it as one whole cake in a larger baking pan or in a loaf tin and even in cupcakes form. The baking would be longer though if you bake it as one cake.

Ingredients:

Butter (150gm)

Sugar (130gm)

Eggs (3)

Vanilla Essence (1/2 tsp)

Plain Yoghurt (5tbsp)

Self Raising Flour (190gm)

Milk Powder - you can use soy powder too (2tbsp)

Walnut (chopped coarsely and toasted)

Raisins

*For walnut and raisins, put as much as you like.

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. Add in vanilla essence and yoghurt. Beat till combined.

4. In another bowl, mix self raising flour and milk powder evenly.

5. Pour in the flour mixture into the wet mixture.

6. Mix evenly.

7. Add in raisins and walnuts.

8. Pour mixture into baking pan.

9. Bake for 30-35min (for loaf tin and cupcakes). You might need to bake longer if you bake it in a large pan.

Birthday Cake

I baked this cake for our monthly birthday celebration in the church. So, this is for March birthday babies :)
There is nothing special about this cake. It's made of 2 layers of cakes - vanilla and chocolate sponge, with chocolate frosting and some simple decoration (you can see I am quite hopeless when it comes to decorating a cake).

A friend called this a porcupine cake....with all the chocolate chips at the sides of the cakes. ;p

Coffee Walnut Butter Cake with Coffee Chips

The whole cake

Yum....this is great with a cup of hot coffee

Ingredients:
Butter (250gm)
Plain Flour (230gm)
Sugar (230gm)
Baking Powder (1tsp)
Coffee Paste (1.5 tbsp)
Eggs (5)
Walnut
Coffee Chips

Preheat oven at 180C

Method:
1. Cream butter and sugar till fluffy.
2. Add in eggs one by one and beat until it's mixed evenly.
3. Add in coffee paste and beat till it's mixed.
4. In another bowl, mix flour and baking powder evenly. Pour this into the wet mixture and mix till combined.
5. Add in some walnut and mix.
6. Pour into a lined baking pan.
7. Sprinkle coffee chips and walnut on top.
8. Bake for 45-50min or until cooked.

Stir Fried Bean Sprouts (Taugeh) with Chili and Dried Shrimps

A simple and tasty dish....

Ingredients:

Bean Sprouts

Dried Shrimps (soaked and chopped)

Chili

Garlic

Salt

Water

Oil

Method:

1. Heat oil and saute garlic till fragrant.

2. Add in dried shrimps and chili and stir fry till fragrant.

3. Add in bean sprouts. Stir fry over high heat for 1min.

4. Season with a little salt and add a bit of water.

5. Continue to stir fry over high heat for about 1/2min. Dish up and serve with rice.

Dried Vegetables Soup with Tofu

This is my brother's favourite soup and I remember whenever my mum asked him what soup to cook, this is the one he would choose. Hubby has not tried it before so I wanted to make this for him, to see if he likes it.
I love vege and soup, so this is quite a perfect combination for me. Good that hubby likes it too, especially the vegetables.

You can get the dried vege from supermarkets or even the wet market (same section where ikan bilis, dried shrimps, etc are sold).

Ingredients:
Dried Vegetables (soaked in hot water and washed clean, then chop them up)
Red Dates
Pork Ribs (best cooked with roasted pork ribs but couldn't get any from the market)
Tofu
Water
Salt

Method:
1. Bring a pot of water to boil.
2. Put in all the ingredients.
3. Cook for at least 2 hours. Season with salt and serve hot.

Birthday Dinner_9March10

Yesterday was hubby's birthday and we had an enjoyable time celebrating his birthday. Since I've got him his birthday gift weeks earlier, there's no more birthday gift for him on the actual day ;p

So, I took 1/2 the day off to cook him a nice dinner. No 9 course dinner la although that crazy thought did cross my mind. Haha....how in the world can we finish 9 dishes right....so, to be practical, just something that he likes lor.

Lettuce with garlic and soy sauce, Steamed Fish with bean paste & Baked chicken drumsticks

Herbal Chicken Soup

Lychee and Mango dessert

These were what we had for dinner last night and nope, I didn't manage to bake him a cake. At first I thought I'd bake a cake but then I'd have to buy lots of things to decorate the cake. That's something I try to avoid because I am trying to finish up my baking ingredients so that I can have some space in the fridge. The main reason is, I don't thinkI can cope baking a cake and cooking dinner on the same day. It's just too tiring for a fat woman like me now ;p

Since we had Bible study last night, I bought him a nice fruit cake with a chocolate sponge base to celebrate his birthday with the brothers from church. I made some lychee jelly too and bought some snacks. Overall, I think it's a meaningful way to celebrate birthday with loved ones :)

Sweet Preseved Radish (Choy Pou) Omelet

My mum used to cook this whenever we had porridge because the saltiness and sweetness from the preserved radish goes really well with plain porridge. I love this omelet though if you eat it on its own, it can be very salty. We had this for lunch sometime back together with stir fried spinach with carrot and chicken curry.

Ingredients:

Eggs

Preserved Sweet Radish (cut into small pieces)

Pepper

Oil

Method:

1. Heat a little oil and stir fry the radish.

2. Beat eggs with a little pepper.

3. Pour egg mixture onto the radish. Let the egg cook till it sets.

4. Turn the egg and cook the other side.

5. Dish up when both sides are cooked.

Steamed Tofu with Small Ikan Bilis

Here's a simple and yet tasty tofu. I think I've put in a little too much ikan bilis ;p OK, next time I shouldn't be so greedy.

Ingredients:

Tofu

Small ikan bilis (I don't know what you actually call this..)

Oil

Light Soy Sauce

Method:

1. Steam tofu. You can do this using a rice cooker while cooking rice.

2. Heat a little oil in wok and fry small ikan bilis till it turns light golden. Dish up.

3. Drizzle some light soy sauce onto the cooked tofu.

4. Sprinkle ikan bilis on top. Serve hot.

The rest of the dishes we had for dinner :)

Chocolate Brownie with Coffee Chips

Fancy a piece with your coffee? :)

Ingredients:

Chocolate (280gm)

Butter (120gm)

Sugar (120gm)

Eggs (2)

Vanilla Essence (1/2 tsp)

Salt (1/8tsp)

Flour (180gm)

Coffee Chips

Preheat oven at 180C

Method:

1. Melt chocolate and butter together.

2. Beat sugar, eggs, vanilla essence and salt till light and fluffy.

3. Add this to mixture to the chocolate and butter mixture.

4. Lastly add in flour. Mix well.

5. Pour into a lined baking pan and sprinkle coffee chips on top.

6.Bake for 25-30min.

Fried Rice with Broccoli and Chinese Sausage

I think I've not been cooking fried rice or noodles for some time and I usually do this when my laziness creeps in ;p Well, I think this one is a balanced meal by itself as I have vege, fish and pork (the sausage) and it's brown rice :)

Ingredients:
Cooked Brown Rice
Garlic
Onion
Fish (marinate with some salt and pepper)
Chinese Sausage
Button Mushroom (would taste better with Chinese Mushroom)
Carrot
Broccoli
Light Soy Sauce
Salt
Oil


Method:
1. Heat some oil and saute garlic and onion until fragrant.
2. Add in chinese sausage and stir fry for 1-2min.
3. Add in mushroom, carrot and broccoli. Stir fry for 1min. Season with a little salt.
4. Add in fish and stir fry for a while.
5. Add rice and mix well.
6. Season with light soy sauce.
7. Stir fry over high heat for about 1min and it's done.

Carrot and Radish Soup with Tomatoes

We had these for lunch sometime last month. The Chinese sausage is from my mum since she bought some for us to bring back after CNY. I just steamed it and drizzled in some light soy sauce after it was cooked.

As for vege, I just blanched some lettuce, then fried some chopped garlic and use it to 'dress' the lettuce, with some oil and light soy sauce. It's simple and yummy!

As for the soup, I love it with tomatoes....

Ingredients:
Carrot
Radish
Tomatoes
Chicken
Salt
Water

Method:
1. Boil water, then put everything in and cook for 2 hours or so.
2. Season with salt before serving.

Variations of Chiffon Cakes

I've always love this cottony soft cake. It's light and fluffy and doesn't make you feel guilty even when you're on your way to the 2nd piece :)

Here are different 'flavors' which I have experimented recently.

Pandan Chiffon Cake with Sunflower Seeds

Hubby thinks the cake is better without the sunflower seeds because it seems the sunflower seeds had overpowered the pandan taste and he thinks it's a bit complicated. LOL....

Lemony Almond Chiffon Cake with Almond Flakes

This one smelled real good while baking!!! The almond and lemon combination is pretty good.

Bailey's Coffee Irish Cream Chiffon Cake with Coffee Chips

This is definitely one of the best especially for coffee lovers! Everyone who tried it just loved it!
If not because I can't take alcohol and coffee now, I would have gobbled one piece right after it's out of the oven ;p