Quick Chicken and Mushroom Rice (One Pot)

I usually do this whenever I feel lazy to cook a full meal which consists of rice, vege, meat and soup. This is fast, easy and tasty. :)

Ingredients:

Chicken

Ginger

Black Fungus (soaked and cut into pieces)

Mushroom (soaked till soft and cut into pieces)

Dark Soy Sauce

Light Soy Sauce

Pepper

Salt

Chinese Cooking Wine

Water

Rice

Oil

Method:

1. Wash rice and set aside.

2. Heat oil in wok and saute ginger till fragrant.

3. Add in mushroom and stir fry till it dries up a little.

4. Add in chicken and stir fry till it looks cooked on the surface.

5. Add salt, pepper, cooking wine, dark and light soy sauce. Mix well.

6. Pour in black fungus and stir fry for another min.

7. Add in rice and mix well. Add more seasoning to taste.

8. Dish up and pour into the rice cooker.

9. Add water and cook rice as usual.

Fried Chicken (Mum's Recipe)

This is how my mum used to cook her fried chicken for us when we were kids. Nowadays, no more fried chicken since she is on a healthier diet and we also don't go back often, so she doesn't cook this anymore. It's a very simple recipe but make sure you marinate it at least 2 hours and it's best if you can marinate it overnight.

Ingredients:

Chicken (medium-size pieces)

Salt

Pepper

Five Spice Powder

Flour

Egg White (beaten - 1 or 2 is sufficient)

Oil

Method:

1. Marinate chicken with salt, pepper and five spice powder for at least 2 hours.

2. Heat wok and pour in enough oil for deep frying.

3. When the oil is hot, dip the chicken into egg white and then cover with flour and fry it till golden brown. Use medium heat to ensure chicken is fully cooked.

Fried Rice with Chinese Sausages

If you realise, I have been dishing out mostly one dish meal these days. Yeah, time is a constraint since I have a small kitchen and apartment and even the slightest noise will wake the baby, which means I can only start cooking after the little empress wakes up from her nap. The problem is, once she wakes up, she expects some entertainment and I can't leave her alone in her playpen for long. So, that's why we have all these quick to cook one dish meal :)

In case you wonder why the colour of the rice looks a but reddish, that's because I've always use brown + red rice :) If I cook white rice, I think it would be considered an exception ;p


Ingredients:
Rice (cooked and let cool at room temp)
Garlic
Carrot
Broccoli
Chinese Sausage
Egg
Oil
Salt
Light Soy Sauce
Dark Soy Sauce
Pepper
Water (boiled)


Method:
1. Heat some oil and saute garlic.
2. Add in chinese sausages and stir fry till the edges of the sausages start to brown a little.
3. Pour in carrot and broccoli and do a quick stir fry.
4. Add in beaten egg and let it cook before you continue to stir fry.
5. Add a little salt and pepper to taste.
6. Pour in the rice and add some light and dark soy sauce. Mix well.
7. Add a little water if it's too dry.
8. Stir fry for 1/2min and dish up.

MeeSua Soup

I love meesua for its simplicity and versatility. You can add in anything you like be it vege or meat and it will always turn out well. I cooked this for dinner some time back and absolutely love this especially on a rainy day. It's very comforting.


Ingredients:
MeeSua (soaked in water for a few minutes)
Meat (sliced pork/chicken)
Light Soy sauce
Dark Soy Sauce
Chinese Cooking Wine
Pepper
Sesame Oil
Vegetables (your choice)
Carrot
Tofu
Garlic
Onion
Oil
Water
Salt


Method:
1. Marinate the meat with the ingredients highlighted in yellow for at least 30min.
2. Heat some oil and saute garlic and onion till fragrant.
3. Pour in the meat and its sauce. Stir fry for 1min.
4. Add in carrot and stir fry for another min.
5. Pour in enough water to make the soup and cook till it boils.
6. Add in the meesua, tofu and vegetables. Cook for another min or till it boils.
7. Season with salt and it's ready to serve!

Porks Ribs

Wow....I can't believe it that the last time I blogged about food was almost 3 months ago??? Aiks, how can this be ;p OK, anyway I will always love cooking and here's something really yummy! I cooked this some time ago so just agak-agak la here ;p

It would look better with some garnishing of parsley or something but hey, this is home cooked food and nobody eats the garnishing, so save it la hor. Dont waste the things we dont eat ma. :)

Ingredients:
Pork Ribs
Light Soy Sauce
Dark Soy Sauce
Chinese Cooking Wine
Sugar
Sesame Oil
White Pepper Powder
Tomato Sauce
Onion
Oil
Salt
Water
Corn Flour


Method:
1. Marinate pork ribs with those ingredients highlighted in yellow for at least 1 hour.
2. Heat some oil and stir fry onion till fragrant.
3. Pour in the marinated pork ribs and its sauce. Stir fry till ribs look 1/2 cooked.
4. Add in tomato sauce and season with some salt to your preference. You can add more sugar or pepper....it's all up to your tastebud.
5. Add enough water to cover the meat and let it simmer until soft, adding water whenever needed.
6. Mix corn flour with a little water and pour in the mixture to thicken the sauce.
7. Serve hot with rice. Delicious!

Dutch Apple Cake (Rachel Allen's recipe)

I first saw this in one of the food blogs and then head over to Rachel Allen's web to check out the recipe. It's a simple and nice cake. I love to arrange the apple slices on top of the cake. Only one thing, if you are baking on the lower rack of the oven you might need to bake ~5min using top heat in the last part of the baking to get the nice brown top :)

Packed these for hubby to share with his colleagues.



Old Cucumber Soup

Nice one, my mum said it has cooling properties. Not sure about that but a bowl of hot soup never fails to complete my meal.

Ingredients:
Old Cucumber (cut into chunks)
Dried Oyster (5-6pieces)
Red Dates (7-8 pieces)
Meat (chicken/pork bones is fine)
Salt
Water


Method:
1. Bring water to boil.
2. Add in all the ingrdients except salt. Simmer for at least 2 hours (use high heat for the first 30min, then turn to low heat). I used a slow cooker (used the "high" setting all the time). If using slow cooker, cook for at least 3 hours.
3. Season with salt.

Fried Rice with Fresh Corn

Here's another simple meal I cooked recently. It taste really good all because of the fresh corn!!! I don't know what you call that corn with 2 colours; white and yellow kernels but it's the more expensive type. It's not because I wanted to buy this but the seller ran out of the normal type, so I had to take this one. Anyway, it's very juicy and sweet, so no regrets.


Ingredients:
Cooked Rice
Carrot (diced)
Broccoli (cut into small pieces)
Fresh Corn
Dried Shrimps (soaked and chopped)
Garlic (chopped)
Shallots (sliced)
Dark Soy Sauce
Light Soy Sauce
Oil
Water-boiled


Method:
1. Heat oil in wok and saute garlic and shallots till fragrant.
2. Add in dried shrimps and stir fry till fragrant.
3. Add in carrot, broccoli and corn.
4. Season with light soy sauce.
5. Pour in rice and mix well.
6. Add in dark soy sauce and mix well.
7. Stir fry for 3-4min, adding water when it gets too dry.
8. Cook until corn is cooked (try it!) and add more light soy sauce to taste.
9. Serve hot.

Stir Fried Udon

It's has been such a long time since I have updated my cooking blog I almost forgot how to go about with the recipe. ;p After a long break from the kitchen, I've started cooking dinner almost everyday for the past 2 months. Yeap, I still enjoy working in the kitchen and it's still a way for me to de-stress :)

Here is a simple one dish meal. Saw some udon noodles in the wet market and thought of a stir fried version. Yummy!

Ingredients:
Udon noodles
Garlic (chopped)
Carrot (sliced)
Cabbage (cut into bite size)
Dried Mushroom (soaked till soft and cut into pieces)
Chicken Meat (cut into bite size)
Black Pepper
Light Soy Sauce
Salt
Oil
Water -boiled (if needed)


Method:
1. Heat oil in wok and saute garlic till fragrant.
2. Add in carrot and mushroom. Stir fry for 1min.
3. Add in cabbage and chicken meat. Stir fry for another min.
4. Season with some salt and light soy sauce. Sprinkle some black pepper.
5. Stir fry for 1 min.
6. Add in the noodles. Mix well. Stir fry for another 1-2min.
7. If too dry, add some water, otherwise, dish up and serve.

Chiffon Cake...again...after a long long time

In case you thought I have not only packed but sold my oven, NO, no, NO,...how could I??? :) The eggs had been staying in the fridge for a long time and it's time to get rid of them. So, what cake to bake if not chiffon since egg is the main ingredient for this cake. Since I still have some coffee powder as well, coffee chiffon it is!

See...my tall and lovely chiffon cake ;p Packed most of it for my MIL to bring back to Sg. Yes, I am still the old me. I love to bake but don't eat much of what I bake.

I am really hoping that I can start baking again...when can I have the next baking session??

All-In Muffin

You could be wondering what muffin I am talking about. Well, I am trying to clear my stock of baking ingredients and I tried to put in many different things into this muffin, thus the name "all-in". Hahaha.... I guess this will be my last bake before my little girl comes and hopefully I will be able to find some time to bake again very soon! These muffins are easy to make and it smells good!

If you do not have milk or for some reason coulnd't take milk, you can substitute it with soy milk. I just use about 3-4tbsp of soy powder and mix it with water. Works well!

Ingredients:

Plain Flour (2 cups)

Sugar (3/4 cup)

Salt (1tsp)

Baking Powder (3 tsp)

Poppy Seed (2-3 tbsp)

Egg (2)

Oil (1/4 cup)

Milk (1 cup)

Chocolate Chips

Red Cherries (chopped coarsely)

Toasted Walnut

Preheat oven at 200C

Method:

1. Mix flour, baking powder, salt, sugar and poppyseed in a bowl. Set aside.

2. Mix eggs, oil and milk evenly. Pour this mixture into the dry ingredients mixture.

3. Mix till just combined.

4. Add in chocolate chips, cherries and walnut. Mix.

5. Spoon into lined muffin cups.

6. Bake for 25min or until cooked.

Chocolate Sponge Cake with Chocolate Chips

A very simple sponge cake with chocolate chips....taste even better after it's been cooled in the fridge :)

Ingredients:

Optima Flour (250gm)

Eggs (4)

Oil (80gm)

Water (50ml)

Cocoa Powder (3-4tbsp mixed with some water to form paste)

Chocolate Chips

Preheat oven at 180C

Method:

1. Beat flour with eggs till thick.

2. Add cocoa paste and water. Beat till light.

3. Fold in the oil. Mix well.

4. Fold in some chocolate chips (leave some to sprinkle on top).

5. Pour into a lined baking pan, sprinkle some chocolate chips and bake for 30min or until cooked.

Lettuce with Pork Floss

This is my fav way to cook lettuce because it's so easy and yet taste good. Hubby loves it too.

Ingredients:

Lettuce

Garlic

Oil

Light Soy Sauce

Water

Pork Floss

Method:

1. Boil water and blanch lettuce for about 1/2min or less.

2. Dish up on a plate.

3. Heat oil and saute garlic till it starts to brown.

4. Scoop up garlic and oil and pour onto the lettuce.

5. Drizzle 1tbsp of light soy sauce over the lettuce. Sprinkle pork floss over it.

6. Serve with rice.

Linguine in Mushroom Sauce

This is the first time I made pasta in this way and I think the result is satisfactory although hubby said it'll taste better with more black pepper or a bit of cheese. Anyway, we don't have cheese at home except sliced cheddar cheese, so maybe next time ;p The mushroom taste is not very strong and perhaps using button mushroom or some other type of mushroom would be better. Anyway, I like the thick sauce even though no cream is used (I prefer not to use any cream since it's very fattening ;p).

Ingredients:

Linguine (cooked per packet instruction)

Fresh shitake mushroom (sliced - can't remember how much I put in ;p)

Onion (sliced and cut into smaller pieces)

Salt

Black Pepper

Mixed Herbs (dried)

Milk (I used low fat milk - don't have cream at home ;p)

Chicken Meat (deboned and cubed)

Tomatoes (cubed)

Garlic

Oil

Water

Method:
1. Heat some oil and saute onion.
2. Put in about 1 cup of sliced mushroom and leave the rest aside.
3. Season with some salt, black pepper and mixed herbs. Dish up.
4. Pour milk into the blender. Add in the mushroom in 3. Blend well. Put aside.
5. Heat some oil and saute the garlic.
6. Add in chicken and stir fry with some salt and black pepper.
7. Pour in tomatoes and the remaining mushrom, stir fry for 1 min.
8. Pour in the blended mushroom sauce. Season with salt.
9. Cook till it simmers and sauce thickens.
10. Sauce is ready and you can just pour it on top of the cooked linguine.

Walnut Cupcakes

Still have some walnut left and not sure what to do with it, so this is the most simple solution ;p This yields about 10-11 cupcakes. Although the taste is not strong, the texture is good and walnuts gave it some crunchy bites.

Ingredients:

Self Raising Flour (190gm)
Milk Powder (2 tbsp)
Butter (150gm)
Sugar (130gm)
Egg (3)
Yoghurt (4tbsp)
Walnuts (toasted and roughly chopped)

Preheat oven at 180C

Method:
1. Beat butter and sugar until light and fluffy.
2. Add in egg one by one and beat well after each addition.
3. Add yoghurt and beat till combined.
4. In another bowl, mix self raising flour and milk powder evenly.
5. Add flour mixture into no. 3 and mix till combined.
6. Add in walnut and mix till combined.
7. Spoon into cupcake pan lined with liners. Bake for 25min or until cooked.

Banana Chocolate Chips Muffin

Ingredients:

Bananas (3-4 medium sized, mashed)

Sugar (1/2 cup)

Oil (1/3 cup)

Egg (1)

Plain Flour (1.5 cup)

Baking Powder (1tsp)

Baking Soda (1tsp)

Salt (1/2 tsp)

Chocolate chips (as much as you like??)

Preheat oven at 190C

Method:

1. Mix mashed bananas, sugar, oil and egg together. Set aside.

2. In another bowl, mix plain flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt evenly.

3. Pour the wet ingredients in 1 into the flour mixture and add in chocolate chips. Mix till combined.

4. Spoon into muffin cups and bake for 20-25min.

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