Piggy Jello

Aren't these cute??? I just knew I had to get them when I saw it in Daiso :) There's nothing special about the jello since it's the normal instant ones you can get in any supermarket, but I just want to show you these cute little piggies ;p

Guava Snack

The recipe is from the blog, "My Culinary Journal" hhttp://myculinaryjournal.blogspot.com/2009/10/guava-appetizer.html and since it looks really easy I thought I'd give it a try. I must say this snack is really refreshing and good for a warm day. It's perfect if you're planning for a home movie marathon because instead of popping junk food like chips you can try this healthier snack.

The way to do it is really to cut the guava (I bought the seedless ones as it's easier to cut ;p) into thin bite size slices and mix them with tiny pieces of preserved orange peel. Then, put it into a container and refrigerate for a few hours.

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.

Cute Breakfast Set

Bread for breakfast sounds a little boring huh? Not when you have these little cuties accompanying them :)

I love these bento sticks that I found in Daiso (Plaza Singapura, SG). Everything in Daiso sells for only SG2. Not that it’s cheap for a Malaysian but I couldn’t find these in Penang, so I just couldn't resist buying when I see them. Well, they really ‘light up’ your food and I am heading to Daiso again in my next trip to SG!!!

Breakfast set consists of a yakult drink, green apples and tuna sandwiches.

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.

Chicken Pie (Puff Pastry)

I just bought 2 recipes books last weekend and one of them was on making pastries. Both books were authored by Alex Goh. Puff pastry seems to be one of those "mission impossible" task for me but hey, no harm trying right? You might think I have gone nuts in the head as I only started making these 9.30pm on a Sunday night and by the time I finished baking the last batch of pies, it was almost 12midnight ;p

But, it was all worth it.....yes, puff pastry is a lot of work compared to shortcrust pastry but I am glad I gave it a try. I don't have the recipe here since it's from the book but you can just googled it and you'll find the recipe to making this queen of all pastries.

I made 15 pies that night and only ate one while distributed the rest to my friends and colleagues. Although the pastry is not as puffy as I want it to be, overall the chicken pies are yummy! Not only I say one la...those who tried it also agree ;p
Here's how I cooked the filling for the pies. Forgot to buy button mushrooms, so didn't add it in.

Ingredients:
Chicken meat (de-boned and cut into small pieces - marinate with soya sauce, chinese wine, pepper & sugar) Potatoes (cut into small cubes)
Onion (diced)
Mixed vegetables
Shallot
Salt
Sugar
Soya sauce
Oyster sauce
Corn flour (mix with some water)
Water Oil



Method:

1. Heat oil in work and saute shallot for 1-2min.

2. Add in potatoes and onion. Stir fry for ~5min.

3. Put in mixed vegetables and chicken meat. Mix well.

4. Season with salt, sugar, oyster sauce and soya sauce. Add some water and let it simmer (low heat) till potatoes are soft.

5. Thicken with some corn flour mixture.

6. Dish up and set aside to let it cool before making the pies.

Island Supreme Pizza

Hehe….this is not the “Island Supreme” from Pizza Hut although I tried to make it look and taste like one.
Since I still have some pita bread, why not try a different topping right? This taste nice too.

Ingredients:
Pita bread
Crab sticks (cut into 1cm length)
Tuna fish (mashed)
Onion (diced)
Tomato (diced)
Pineapple (cut into small pieces)
Yellow bell pepper (cut into small pieces)
Chili sauce
Tomato sauce
Cheddar cheese
Pepper
Salt


Method:
1. Mix chili and tomato sauce together and spread on the pita bread.
2. Mix a little salt and pepper with tuna fish.
3. Sprinkle onion, tomatoes, yellow bell pepper, tuna fish, pineapple and crab sticks onto the pita bread.
4. Top it with the cheese and bake at 170C for 15-20min.

Pineapple & Chicken Frankfurters Pizza

Thanks to Lizard Meng, I have this nice pizza as lunch today. It's so simple to make and you can experiment it with other toppings such as tuna and crab sticks or with some marinated chicken strips. Yummy~~

Ingredients:
Pita bread (wholemeal or plain)
Chili & Tomato sauce (mix together)
Green bell pepper (chopped)
Onion (chopped)
Tomato (cut into small pieces)
Pineapple (cut into small pieces)
Chicken frankfurters (cut into small pieces)
Cheese


Method:
1. Spread the chili and tomato sauce on the bread.
2. Sprinkle some cheese, green bell pepper, onion, chicken frankfurters and pineapple onto the bread.
3. Top it with some cheese.
4. Bake in pre-heated oven at 170C for 15min.

Marmite Chicken Sandwich

This is for breakfast. Why marmite chicken?
well, I wanted to cook marmite chicken for dinner but since I didn't have the time to marinate the chicken, I cooked noodles for dinner and reserve this for breakfast.
When we're flexible, there's always possibility of coming up with something new :)

Ingredients:
Chicken meat (de-boned, cut into thin slices)
Tomatoes (cut into thin slices)
Japanese cucumber (cut into thin slices)
Bread (toasted)
Soya sauce
Pepper
Marmite sauce
Honey
Oil
Water
Corn flour


Method:
1. Marinate chicken overnight with soya sauce and pepper.
2. Heat a little oil and stir fry chicken for 1min.
3. Mix marmite sauce, honey, pepper, corn flour and water and pour over the chicken meat.
4. Cook till gravy thickens.
5. Put the sandwich together with cucumber, tomatoes and the cooked chicken meat.

Yam Cake

It was a long weekend with the National Day holiday and that means I have more time to try out something new! I've always loved yam cake and ever since I saw this recipe in Peony's blog, I told myself I got to try this. Surprisingly my mum knows how to make this dish too!

Anyway, since I've bought all the ingredients to make this according to Peony's recipe, I made it according to the recipe. I find the yam cake a bit too sticky and soft.
Guess next time I'll try my mum's recipe!

Here's the link to Peony's yam cake recipe:
http://myculinaryjournal.blogspot.com/2008/03/yam-kuih-n-bento-43.html

Chicken Pie (Upside Down)

Do these look yummy? :)

Yes, baking fever is still on, so today Carmen and I decided to bake chicken pie!!!

Yeah, it's kind of ambitious for 2 of us who doesn't know much about baking but as always, even if we fail, we'd still have some fun trying.

When it comes to baking, I have got to folllow someone's recipe and this one is also from Peony.

Here's the link to her recipe: http://myculinaryjournal.blogspot.com/2007/10/chicken-pies.html

The only thing which I have changed is the way I cooked the filling. Instead of mix vegetables, I just used diced carrots though I did use up the leftover mix vegetables which I have which is less than a handful. I also added some mixed herbs and soya sauce. The whole mixture smells amazing after adding the mixed herbs and I must say the taste is absolutely delicious.

Oh....why do I call it upside down chicken pie? You know this is the very first time I bake chicken pies (never baked any pies in my life) so I still do not know what went wrong but we found that after baking the pies for 30minutes, the pastry at the base and sides are still uncooked!

So, to save the pies, we took them out of the moulds and put them back on the baking try upside down and bake again for another 15minutes! Hahaha...It turned out great after that. Phew....

Carmen concluded that I am still better with the wok doing my usual stir fry. Haha...Anyway, I am going to find out what went wrong and try again! Next, we're thinking of trying to bake some egg tarts!