Tigg3r's Delectable Fare

Finally bought the Kueh Tutu mould and made another batch of Pandan Flavoured Kueh Tutu. This time, I added pandan paste into the hot water before pouring into the fried rice flour. Maybe I've added lesser water and the Kueh kind of cracked after removing from the steamer.

Rice flour added with Pandan paste

Shredded coconut fried with brown sugar and pandan leaves

Ingredients ready for making

Ready for steaming

Think my liquid wasn't sufficient enough, my kueh cracked after removing from steamer

Completed Pandan flavoured Kueh Tutu

Chocolate cakes are all time favourite for most of us. Some of us like it with very soft sponge while some love it firmer. There isn't one that will fit the taste bud of everyone.

For me, it depends on my mood. At times, I want a soft textured cake with chocolate fudge but some days I crave for something firm with ganache. Here, I preferred it thinly layered with chocolate mousse over soft sponge. I never like those with large quantity of mousse. Sometimes I just wonder why those whom I know come telling me that they do not like too much fresh cream on their cake citing that it's too fatty. But they don't mind indulging in cakes with lots of mousse on it. I personally feel that it's just flavoured cream. So if you are looking for the those with lots of mousse, this is not the one I would recommend. I've used a eggless with no gelatin recipe for making the mousse.

While the egg whites were whisking away in the KitchenAid, I was busy trying to mix the yolk batter and did not monitor the stage at which the meringue was forming up, I ended up over beating the meringue. It deflated when I folded into the yolk batter. Thank goodness, there were baking powder in the recipe, so the cake still rise beautifully.

Recipe for chocolate cake ~ 7" square pan (if you like a tall cake with 4 or more layers, an 8" square pan can also yield decent cake)

Ingredients for Chocolate Cake

(A)

1/4 tsp Baking soda

1/4 cup boiling water

(B)
120g Castor sugar
40g Dark cocoa powder (I used Valrhona Dark Chocolate)
1 tsp Vanilla powder or Vanilla essence
1/4 cup Evaporated milk (typo error that was earlier written as condensed)
1/4 cup Oil

(C)

5 egg yolks (medium size)

20g Castor sugar

(D)
90g Cake Flour
1 tsp Baking powder

(E)
4 Egg whites (medium size)
1/4 tsp Cream of tartar
20g Castor sugar

Directions

Preheat oven to 160 degree and line a 7" square pan.
Mix (A) together and set aside to let it cool slightly
Using a balloon whisk, mix (B) together and pour (A) into the mixture and combine well.
Whisk (C) until fluffy and pale in colour. Pour into the chocolate mixture from Step 2 and combine well.
Sift (D) together and fold the flour into the yolk mixture in Step 3. Set aside
Mix Cream of tartar with the sugar. Whisk egg whites till foamy and gradually add the sugar mixture and whisk until stiff peak.
Fold 1/3 of the egg meringue into the yolk batter and mix well. Quickly fold in the rest of the egg meringue and pour into the baking pan. Tap the pan to remove excessive bubbles and bake in preheat oven for 40 minutes or until skewer inserted into cake comes out clean.
Remove cake from oven and flip over onto a cooling rack (cake still in baking pan). When completely cool, remove and decorate accordingly.

Ingredients for Eggless Chocolate Mousse

160g Dark Chocolate (I used Valrhona Equatoriale Dark 55%)

1 cup Non-diary whipping cream (whipped till stiff peak)

2 tbsp Non-diary whipping cream for tempering

2 tbsp Butter

In a thick based small saucepan, place dark chocolate, 2 tbsp of non-diary whipping cream and 2 tbsp butter together. Over low fire, heat chocolate until it melt (Do not boil the chocolate mixture). Set aside till almost completely cool.
Pour over whipped cream and incorporate thoroughly.
Cut cake into 3 or 4 layers. You may use a 7" square ring to assemble the cake or just simply stack layer by layer. Place a layer of sponge cake at the bottom and spread with chocolate mousse before placing another layer on top. Repeat the step until every layer is used up.
Keep in refrigerator for 4 hours to set. Remove from ring and dust the top of cake with Dark cocoa powder. Cover the side of the cake with shaved chocolate.

A common order when we go to Tea Houses or restaurant for Dim sum ~ Shrimp Dumpling. This is my first attempt on making Har Gow and I'm not too confident in rolling the skin until very thin. So it's not as translucent as I've expected it to be. Well, it is nice to give our hands on this delicate dish but thinking about making an assortment of dim sums to eat at home can be quite a challenge. I have to admit I can't do do. Imagine struggling in the hot kitchen and after having done with steaming, you would really love to sit down and enjoy your masterpiece ~ honestly quite impossible. I remember running into the dining room with my first batch of freshly steamed Har Gow for my family and watched them happily munching away. And when I finally got mine! It's already cold. So I stood at the kitchen counter eating freshly steamed ones while trying to complete the rest of the dumplings.

I made several batches of the usual shrimp dumpling and made a few that I thought would look like goldfish but eventually concluded it actually looks like shrimps!

Recipe adapted and modified from Chef Li Mei Xien's The Snack Book, Hong Kong Style

Ingredients for fillings

12 pieces medium-sized sea water shrimp, peeled and deveined, cut into small pieces

2 tbsp Minced pork shoulder (optional)

1 tbsp egg white

1/4 tsp soy sauce

1/4 tsp salt

Dash of white pepper

1/2 tsp toasted sesame oil

1/4 tsp ginger, minced

1 tsp cornstarch

3 Tbsp minced bamboo shoots

Mix all of the above ingredients together and set aside.

Ingredient for wrapper

1/4 cup tapioca starch

1 1/4 cup wheat starch

1/4 tsp salt

1 cup Boiling water

1 tsp corn oil

extra wheat starch for dusting

In a large bowl, Combine wheat starch, tapioca starch and salt together.
Add boiling water and corn oil and mix well with wooden spoon. Transfer the dough onto the table top dusted with extra wheat starch. Knead dough until smooth, soft and non-sticky (take care not to scald hand because the dough can be quite hot)
Divide dough into 3 equal portions and roll each portion into a long log. Cut into small pieces about 1 inch long (about 20g) Place the cut pieces into the bowl and cover with damped cloth.
Roll the small dough into a ball, use a plastic dough cutter and flatten the dough into a round disc.
Gather and pinch 4 or 5 times along one side of the wrapper and making into a cup shape. Spoon the filling and seal the top of the wrapper
Line on a bamboo steamer and steam at medium high heat for 8 to 10 minutes

Wheat starch and tapioca starch after adding hot water

Knead into a smooth, soft and non-sticky dough

Gather and pinch one side of wrapper, spoon in filling

Sealed dumpling

Dumplings ready to be steamed

I'm submitting this post to Aspiring Bakers #19: Dim Sum Affair (May 2012) by SSB of Small Small Baker

Prior to making the Chocolate Mousse Cake, I tried making this Chocolate Fudge Cake. I was in a hurry to get the cake ready for Mother's day but was way too sick to go and purchase good quality dark chocolate, so this cake does not turn out to be as rich as I have expected it to be. However, my mother and all who ate the cake like it very much. I believe it would have been delicious if better quality ingredients had been used.

The cake in the picture were made of Hershey cocoa powder and the fudge were just normal compounded dark chocolate which I believe the cocoa used should be less than 50%. The recipe for the chocolate cake is similar to that of my Chocolate Mousse Cake in my previous post.

Ingredients for Chocolate Cake

(A)

1/4 tsp Baking soda

1/4 cup boiling water

(B)
120g Castor sugar
40g Dark cocoa powder (I used Valrhona Dark Chocolate)
1 tsp Vanilla powder or Vanilla essence
1/4 cup Evaporated milk
1/4 cup Oil

(C)

5 egg yolks (medium size)

20g Castor sugar

(D)
90g Cake Flour
1 tsp Baking powder

(E)
4 Egg whites (medium size)
1/4 tsp Cream of tartar
20g Castor sugar

Directions

Preheat oven to 160 degree and line a 8" square pan.
Mix (A) together and set aside to let it cool slightly
Using a balloon whisk, mix (B) together and pour (A) into the mixture and combine well.
Whisk (C) until fluffy and pale in colour. Pour into the chocolate mixture from Step 2 and combine well.
Sift (D) together and fold the flour into the yolk mixture in Step 3. Set aside
Mix Cream of tartar with the sugar. Whisk egg whites till foamy and gradually add the sugar mixture and whisk until stiff peak.
Fold 1/3 of the egg meringue into the yolk batter and mix well. Quickly fold in the rest of the egg meringue and pour into the baking pan. Tap the pan to remove excessive bubbles and bake in preheat oven for 40 minutes or until skewer inserted into cake comes out clean.
Remove cake from oven and flip over onto a cooling rack (cake still in baking pan). When completely cool, remove and decorate accordingly

Ingredients for Chocolate Fudge

250ml Whipping cream

250g Dark Chocolate couverture

4 tsp Gelatin powder

60ml Boiling water

1 tbsp Rum (1tsp Vanilla essence, if you do not want any alcohol in the fudge)

Dissolve gelatin powder in boiling water
In a saucepan, combine gelatin mixture and whipping cream. Heat cream over low fire until it is about to boil. Remove from heat and pour in the chocolate couverture.
Stir chocolate mixture until it is fully melted. Add in the rum and set aside to let it cool completely.
Once cooled, put in refrigerator for about 30 minutes to let chocolate fudge set a little before frosting the cake.

This have been a question I've been asking myself for the longest time... Don't know why I have this sudden thought. Maybe it's due to my hormone imbalance or some other reasons. I'm getting sick and tired of entertaining people who simply ask to share and don't feedback how's my post have been.

Tried once, like it, hate like and get on with my life is something I would also like to do so. Don't praise me but share with me your thoughts about the recipes. I can't improve if you don't tell me and it's pointless of me sharing other new recipes when some of it are basic recipes that are used over and over again. I have to admit that my blog is not as wonderful as others but I still need to start somewhere!

Like I've said, the whole idea of this blog is to archive my ventures for my daughters' benefit and I share remain as it is. It's not easy baking, cooking and having to take care of 3 young kids who have not even reach 4 yet. I can't take fantastic pictures or proof read my blog (I'm aware of my typo mistakes ~ which I do not understand why no one points it out) Would really love to spend more meaningful time with my family, continue with baking and cooking and not having to worry that some of you are waiting to take a glance at my work.

I also didn't know how to cook or bake, it took years of experimenting and researching too! That is why I do not mind sharing with those of you who are struggling. But enough is enough!

So I've come to a conclusion that this blog will only serves my initial purpose and deem it useless to some of you.

I really appreciate some of you who follows me silently and I know who you are... I'll be privatising this blog and for those who really wants to continue viewing, please drop me an email : mimi_mikey@hotmail.com and I will add you to my access list. Shall be changing my blog setting by the end of this month. Thanks for your support!

Cherilynn ~ You will love it !

Clarabelle ~ Takes time for you to acquire the taste

Clarissa ~ Still young, you'll either love it or hate it

A classic Thai Dessert which your daddy loves very much. Cherilynn, you'll probably like this because you love mango and glutinous rice, the only draw back is because you have not try much coconut flavoured dish yet. Clarabelle, this will probably take very long for you to appreciate but if you have sudden crave for this? Here it is for you!

This method of cooking is based on mummy's recollection on how it taste like after having eaten this from many Thai Restaurants, both locally and in Thailand. And it'll probably very different from the original recipe. Why bother to google since you girls would have been accustomed to this taste by the time you grow up.

For the Sticky rice a.k.a. glutinous rice, I've adapted the method used for making Kueh Sarlat, which I find it more fragrant. The coconut flavour is infused more evenly into the rice during steaming process, rather than mixing the coconut cream after the rice is steamed. And adding pandan leaves to steam the rice definitely makes the rice even more fragrant.

3 medium size Riped Mangoes (skin peeled and cut into large chunks or slices) Get the Australian R2E2 Apple Mangoes which has a slight red skin because the flesh is very firm and it smells totally great!

Ingredients for Sticky rice (Serves 5 ~ 6)

1 1/2 cup Glutinous Rice (washed and soaked for at least 2 hours)

3/4 cup Water

1/4 cup (60ml) Thick Coconut Cream

1/2 tbsp Sugar

1/4 tsp Salt

2 blades Pandan leaves (washed and cut into short sections)

Directions

Drain water from sticky rice, place the rice in a deep dish (I used the deep dish corning ware) Add the rest of the ingredients and mix well and steam it for 20 minutes on medium heat.

After 20 minutes, use a chop stick to loosen the rice and continue steaming for another 10 minutes. When completed, keep the rice in the steamer for another 10 mintues before bringing out to let the rice cool.

** Taste the rice to see if it's cooked. If it's not, just add a little water and continue steaming for another 10 mintues. Do not over mix the rice or it'll be very broken and became a sticky lump.

Ingredients for Cream Sauce

1 cup Thick Coconut cream

1/4 tsp Salt

1 1/2 tbsp Sugar

2 tbsp Water

Directions

In a thick based saucepan, bring the Thick Coconut cream, salt, sugar and water to boil. Once it's starts boiling, remove from heat and set aside to leave it to cool completely.
Serve a large spoonful of cooled rice on a plate, arrange sliced mangoes and pour about 2 tablespoon of coconut cream sauce over the rice and mangoes.

** If you like it cold, you can chill all the items in the refrigerator before serving.

Cherilynn ~ Mummy knows you love the Chocolate Sponge

Clarabelle ~ You simply adores the Swiss Meringue Buttercream

Clarissa ~ You'll probably be just like Cherilynn

This cake was meant for your care taker, Nana's birthday. Mummy have not mastered the piping skill yet so it didn't turn out as nice as what you may have seem elsewhere. Now tell me, since you are born, have mummy has the chance to go out for any "Me time"? How am I to brush up my piping skills?

Recipe is similar to that of the Chocolate Swiss Roll. Use three 7 inches pan to bake and it's save more time and electricity.

Ingredients

100g Boiling water

30g Cocoa Powder

30g Castor sugar

6 Egg yolk (medium size)

20g Sugar

75g Corn oil

80g Cake flour (sifted)

6 Egg whites (medium size)

75g Sugar

1/4 tsp Cream of tartar

Directions

Preheat oven at 200 degree celsius. Line three 7 " pan with parchment or baking paper.
In a small bowl, shift cocoa powder and sugar together, pour in the boiling water and combine well.
In a separate bowl, combine egg yolks and sugar together. Using a hand whisk, whisk the mixture until slightly pale. Add in oil and cocoa mixture and combine well.
Fold in cake flour and mix well.
In a stand mixer, whisk egg white until foamy, gradually add in sugar and cream of tartar, and whisk until stiff peak.
Fold 1/3 of the meringue into the egg yolk batter and mixed well. Subsequently, pour this mixture into the rest of the meringue and fold quickly to combine well. Do not over fold or the batter will deflate.
Pour mixture into the lined tray and tap the tray on tabletop to remove air pockets. Bake for 10-12 minutes.
Remove from oven and flip cake onto a cooling rack lined with parchment paper still on. Leave to cool.
Spread Peppermint meringue buttercream over the each layer of the cake. Pour rainbow sprinkle on each layer (optional). Cream the entire cake and pipe the rosette with Wilton piping tip #1M
Chill in refrigerator before serving.

Ingredients for Peppermint Swiss Meringue Buttercream

3 Egg whites (medium size)
1/2 cup Castor sugar
150g Butter (soften in room temperature) ***
1 tspPeppermint essence
Food Colouring
*** I used Buttercup butter spread because it's cheaper and it does not have a overly strong butter taste.

Directions

Heat water in a small pot and bring it to simmer.
In a metal bowl, mix sugar and egg white together. Place on top of the small pot and stir egg mixture over low fire until the sugar dissolve. (Double boil method) Making sure not to over heat the egg mixture or the egg white will be cooked. (Should be about 45 degree) Set aside to let it cool slightly.
In a separate bowl, cream the butter until fluffy. (I actually skipped this step because it still works for me if I just add the butter a little at a time) But for a start, it's better to cream the butter until you are very familiar with making the buttercream
Whisk the egg white in a stand mixer until stiff peak.
Add softened butter over 3 to 4 batch while still whisking at stir speed. Meringue will starts to deflate and looks like curd.
Change to paddle and beat at medium high speed until thoroughly combined. Buttercream will start to form after beating for about 1 to 2 minutes. (May require more time if using hand mixer). Add peppermint essence and beat for 10 seconds or until well combined.
Add food colouring to your preference.

Cherilynn ~ Not sure if you'll be like daddy who loves this more than any women

Clarabelle ~ same goes for you

Clarissa ~ Mummy can't tell, you are still too young!

A very simple and refreshing pickle that you'll appreciate especially on a hot day. Goes very well when you are eating Xiao long Bao, Potstickers, Japanese food, Korean food and many more that you can think of. It's very addictive but I must warn you girls this one has got high content of sugar. You can't skip or even reduce it.. Just won't taste great at all! I've not referred to any other recipes so I do not know if this is correct. After all, it taste perfectly good to Daddy and Mummy!

This is different from Korean Kimchi, where the sourish taste is the result of fermentation. This one the sourness comes from the vinegar.

Ingredients

1kg White radish **

1 piece Medium size Carrot

2 piece Medium size Japanese Cucumber (you can be very certain it won't turn out bitter)

1 tsp Salt

** Instead of using White radish, you can use Beijing Cabbage but you probably be farting the whole night through. I've used White radish because I'm still breastfeeding Clarissa at this time.

2 cups Fine Sugar

2 cups White Vinegar (You can use distilled vinegar, Just need it to be sour)

Directions

Bring fine sugar and white vinegar to boil. Remove from heat and left it too cool completely.
Peel skin and slice white radish thinly, carrot shredded while cucumber julienned.
In separate bowls, sprinkle 3/4 tsp of salt over the sliced radish and 1/4 tsp of salt over the shredded carrot. Mix well and set aside for 30 minutes. Leave julienned cucumber in the refrigerator.
Rinse the radish, carrot and squeeze out excessive water.
Pour all the 3 ingredients into the sugar/vinegar solution and let it soak for at least 4 hours before serving it cold.

Cherilynn ~ You'd had always love noodles, this one will be one of your favourite

Clarabelle ~ You'll only go for the meat, maybe the crispiness of the noodle may change your mind

Clarissa ~ You'll have to wait for a couple of years before you can have this.

This is one of the rare time I've got to use MSG in my cooking. Put it that way, Zhi Cha won't taste good if there's not MSG. But I've only used a teaspoon of the Knorrs Ikan Bilis Seasoning, so you'll still get to keep your lovely hair.

This is Fried Mee Sua which is much much thinner than the 'PO CAI MEE' that requires a little more cooking, all you need to do is ensure that your gravy is hot and plenty enough to soak them well. In the event that you can't find them in the market, just deep fry the usual mee sua until golden brown and crispy. And of course you have more cleaning up to do.

The seafood gravy is very useful in the sense that you can use it to make "Hor Fun", "Mui Fan" or "Shang Mee". Even Bee Hoon is not a problem.

Ingredients for Seafood Gravy

Serving : 4

12 pcs Prawns (Shelled and deveined)

1 pc Large Fish Cake (Sliced)

100g Pork or Chicken (Sliced)

4 pcs Fresh Shitake Mushroom (Sliced)

4 bundles Kai Lan (Cut into short sections)

1 pc Egg (lightly beaten)

2 tbsp Oil for cooking

1 tbsp Minced Garlic

1.5 litre Water (I did not use Chicken stock because I'm already using the Ikan Bilis seasoning)

** Using Kai Lan is better because it doesn't gets soggy or turn yellowish so easily

Seasoning

1 tsp Ikan Bilis seasoning

1 tbsp Light Soy sauce

1 tbsp Sugar

1 tsp Fish sauce (optional)

A little pepper for taste

3 tbsp Tapioca starch (mixed with approximately 1/4 cup to make thickening solution)

Direction

Mix all the seasoning together in a small bowl and set aside.
In a wok or a large non-stick pot, heat oil and fry minced garlic till fragrant.
Add Pork and fish cake and stir fry until pork is cooked. Add Mushroom and Kai Lan and stir fry briefly. Next, add the prawn. Pour in the seasoning. Add water and bring to boil.
When it is boiling, gradually pour in the beaten egg. And once it reboil again pour in the tapioca starch solution and cook until the gravy thicken
Pour over the Fried Mee Sua and serve.

Cherilynn, Clarablle & Clarissa ~ This is something you would enjoy.

This was one of the dishes that mummy cooked on the very first day of Chinese New Year 2012. Yes, it's Clarissa's first CNY celebration. I had to plan out the menu days before the big day, and I was glad I still have enough time to cook after all the visiting during the day.

Originally, this suppose to be Eight Treasure Duck but mummy is allergic to red meat, so you can forget about me preparing it with a duck for you. Maybe next time when you are bigger!

Preparation work can be done earlier because most of the ingredients need soaking. Only challenge is the chicken which you need to de-bone and marinate earlier. I de-boned and marinated the chicken several days ahead, freeze it and just need to thaw the chicken in the refrigerator the night before you cook it. Remove all bone with the exception of wings and drumstick. Yes, you got to remove the tight bone too! Just got to practise a few times and you'll get use to it. Takes about 5 minutes to get rid of the bones.

Debone one 1kg chicken (keep wing bone and drumstick bone) and marinate with 1 tbsp of oyster sauce, 1/4 tsp of pepper, 1/4 tsp salt and 1/2 tsp of ginger juice. (You may use 1 tsp Shao Xing wine if you like). Marinate for at least 4 hours or overnight

Ingredients for filling

12 pieces Dried Lotus Seed (soaked and remove core if any)

12 pieces Gingko Nut

1 tbsp Dried Shrimp (Washed and soaked)

12 pcs Dried small scallop (Washed and soaked for a little while)

6 pcs Chestnut (Soaked, washed and cut into small pieces)

3 pcs Dried Mushrooms (Soaked, washed and diced)

1 pcs Chinese Sausage (Boiled, removed skin and diced or sliced)

1/2 tbsp Minced garlic

1 stalk Spring onion (Washed and cut into sections)

2 tbsp Cooking oil

1 1/2 cup Glutinous rice (Washed and soaked for a least 2 hour)

*** you may like to add sliced chicken or even diced bamboo shoot if you would like to

Seasoning for Rice

2 tbsp Oyster sauce

1/4 tsp Pepper

1/2 tsp Sesame oil

1/2 tsp Salt

1 cup water

Directions for preparing filling

Heat up wok or frying pan with oil. Fry minced garlic until fragrant.
Add lotus seed, ginko nut, Dried shrimp, dried scallop, chestnut, dried mushroom and chinese sausage and fry till fragrant.
Add salt, pepper, oyster sauce and sesame oil and continue frying for a little while.
Add rice and fry for about a minute
Add 1 cup water and fry until the water has been absorb by the rice
Add cut spring onion. Remove from heat and set aside to cool slightly

Add rice filling into the cavity of the chicken and seal the chicken with toothpick as shown in the picture below. Rub with 1 tsp of dark soy sauce.

Shallow fry the chicken to brown the skin. Turn chicken to all side to brown the skin until slightly crispy, as shown in the picture below. In this picture, I've deboned from the back of the chicken.

Remove toothpick and wrap chicken in lotus leave, place on a stainless steel place and steam for 2 hours on medium heat. Remove from heat. Thicken the juice that are dripped onto the stainless steel plate by cooking with starch solution and pour over chicken before serving.

This is a picture taken on another occasion. I have fried the chicken slightly longer until the skin is fully sealed before steaming it. It remains tightly sealed even after I removed the toothpick, as compared to the picture above. Here. I dedoned from the breast section. Which ever way you feel comfortable!

Interior of the Eight Treasure Chicken

Another cake to mark Daddy and Mummy's marriage. This year, I've just made a single tier mixed fruit cake based Silk Wedding Anniversary Cake. It will be very challenging if I could make a 3 Tier Cake, but I think I'll hold this idea for the years to come.

This year, it took me exactly 3 and half hours to cover and decorate the entire cake. I believed it would have been faster if I haven't tried the new texture of painting the royal icing flowers onto the cake for the first time. Not to forget, it is also mummy's first ever attempt on fondant roses. Pretty happy with the results.

A nicely covered cake with fondant ready for decoration

Poor painting works on Royal Icing Flowers

Fondant roses dusted with edible pearl dust

Final product for the Big Celebration!

Cherilynn, Clarabelle and Clarissa ~ This is something you will not say "NO" to.

Pandan Chicken is a thai dish, which usually served as Appetiser, but for homecooked, you'll probably eat it as a dish itself. There are many methods of marinating and even method of cooking. It's either deep fried, which is the usual case, or baked (if you do not want to clean up an oily kitchen).

I'd googled and read a few recipes from many sources which I totally have no clue which is which, but roughly have in mind the basic ingredients and I modified to our families taste bud.

My method is simply "blend and marinate" and here's it is:

Ingredients

600g Chicken Thigh Meat (Diced)
20 to 25 blades Pandan Leaves (Washed and dried)

Ingredients for marinating

6 pieces Shallots
4 cloves Garlic
2 slices Turmeric ginger or 1/2 tsp Turmeric Powder
2 stalks Coriander leaves & roots (washed and cleaned thoroughly)
1/2 tbsp Ground white pepper
3 tbsp Fish Sauce
1 tbsp Brown Sugar
1/2 tsp Salt
2 tbsp Water

Directions

Blend all the ingredients for marinating into a smooth paste.
Marinate chicken with the blended paste for 2 hours.
Strain the marinated chicken as much as possible (I let it dripped in a strainer for about 10 minutes)
Insert about 3 to 4 pieces of chicken into the Pandan Pockets
Deep fry for until golden brown

From view ~ cleaned and dried pandan leaf

Front view ~ Cross both ends of the leaf

Front view ~ Bring the back piece forward and insert into the hole below

Front view ~ Slightly tighten the leaf

Back view ~ Flip to the back

Back view ~ Bring the same piece of leaf through the gap between the long strip and crossed section

Back view ~ Tighten and you get a pocket for filling the diced chicken

Cherilynn ~ You didn't really fancy meat, maybe this might not impress you

Clarabelle ~ Just like daddy, you'll adore this

Clarissa ~ Not sure if you'll like this but definitely a dish not many would fancy

Ingredients

11/2 kg Pork Belly (preferably without bones)

For marinating ingredients

1/2 tsp Coriander powder

1 tsp Five spice powder

1/2 tbsp Fish sauce

2 tbsp Gula Melaka (crushed)

4 tbsp Thick Dark Soya Sauce

For Braising ingredient

1 pc Star Anise

1 pc Cinnamon Bark

6 pcs Cloves

2 tbsp Gula melaka or brown sugar, (crushed)

1 bulb Garlic

4 pcs Shallots

1 cup Thick Dark Soy Sauce

750ml to 1 litre Water

Directions

Clean the pork belly and remove the membrane if the butcher has not done so.
Cut pork into 2 1/2 inches long strips.
Marinate pork belly with the marinating ingredients over night or at least 4 hours
Pan fry the pork belly to brown the skin at low heat. (As soon in picture above) Remove and set aside to cool.
Cut pork belly into thick slices and lay on claypot or slow cooker (See picture above)
Mix Gula melaka, Dark soy sauce and 500ml of water. Pour onto the pork belly. If braising mixture is not enough, add more water to submerge the pork belly.
Place all the rest of the braising ingredients into the claypot or slow cooker. Cook on low fire for 2 hours on claypot or 5 hours on slow cooker.

There's 2 methods of making the Bun, you may like to take a look at another post, Steamed Bun Dough

Ingredients for Homemade Bun

300g Hong kong flour
5g Instant yeast
5g baking powder
70g Sugar
3g Shortening
120ml Water

Mix well dough ingredients, knead dough till smooth
Roll dough into long strip, cut into 12 small pieces (about 35g), roll in flat sheets
Wrap in the fillings, make into a Bao shape. Leave to rise for 30 minutes
Steam over high heat for 5 to 7 minutes.

Cherilynn ~ You only went for the sago, probably because you think it is 'Tapole'

Clarabelle ~ You're not as adventurous as your sister but I believe you will eventually like this

Clarissa ~ You're way too young for this

This is a traditional thai dessert which is quite refreshing. Can be served with very light coconut milk if you do not want it to be too creamy. It is suggested to serve this with crushed ice but unfortunately we don't have ice shaver at home and having the milk chilled and served together with ice cubes is perfectly alright.

Serving : 6

Cut jackfruit into long strips. Pour coconut milk into a bowl of crushed ice and add red rubies and green sago.

Recipe for Coconut Milk

200ml Thick Coconut cream

1 cup Water

1/2 cup Sugar or 1/3 cup if you want it less sweeter and and not using crushed ice

Pinch of salt (optional)

3 blades Pandan Leaves (cut into short sections)

In a saucepan, combine sugar, water and pandan leaves and stir until sugar is dissolved.
Add coconut cream and salt and bring to boil.
Once boiling, remove from heat, discard pandan leaves and set aside to cool completely

Recipe for Red Rubies

10 pieces Water Chestnut

1/2 tsp Red food coloring

1 cup Tapioca starch

1 large plastic bag

Pot of Boiling water

Large bowl of ice water

Peel water chestnut and cut into pea-sized chunks
Add red food colouring and mix well

In a large plastic, pour in 1 cup of tapioca starch

Pour in the coloured water chestnut, gather plastic bag into a balloon form and toss the water chestnut until they are thickly coated with the tapioca starch

Remove coated water chestnut into a plate by gently picking with fingers, batch by batch. (you may like to use a strainer to sieve off the excessive flour but I find that it will also remove more starch during the process of doing so)

Boil in a pot of boiling water for about 5 minutes or until the starch is completed cooked and looked clear. (Rubies will float on the water)
Remove and quickly soak into ice water
Once cooled, remove and keep it in a container with water just covering the rubies. Refrigerate until you are ready to serve.

Recipe for Green Sago

3 tbsp Small Pearl Sago

1 tsp Green pandan paste (if you do not have pandan paste, you can always use simply green food coloring)

Pot with 1 litre of boiling water

Add green pandan paste into pot of water and mix well. Bring to boil.
When water is boiling, pour in the pearl sago and let it boil for about 15 minutes.
Turn off heat and leave sago inside the hot water for another 30 minutes.
Drain sago until running tap water into a strainer.
Pour into a small container and add 2 tbsp of water. Set aside to let it cool before serving

Am submitting this post to Aspiring Bakers #20: Asian dessert buffet! (June 2012) hosted by Moon of Food Playground

Cherilynn, Clarabelle & Clarissa ~ You will not say 'NO' to THIS!

There's many versions of this Hokkaido Chiffon Cupcakes and I totally clueless how the original cupcake really taste like. Some told me it should be soft, cottony and fluffy. And I've seem some with very dense chiffon. I've finally got my hands on one from a bakery shop and I'm totally not impressed ~ because it's so firm. My impression of cakes derived from Japanese recipes are very soft and fluffy with very light cream and sweet aroma of vanilla.

I've modified the recipe from DG's swiss roll recipe, which turn out to be very good. Once you find a good sponge recipe, it's all up to you to do minor alternative to suit your taste. I strongly believe, if you really want to make an authentic Hokkaido Chiffon Cupcake, you probably need Hokkaido milk and Hokkaido diary whipping cream.

You will noticed that this recipe used more eggs than many others that you may google, the choice is yours! More eggs just means more fluffy and lighter cupcake.

Ingredients cupcake

5 Egg Yolks (Medium size eggs)

45g Castor sugar

75g Oil

110g Cake Flour

100ml Milk (Preferably if you can get Hokkaido Milk)

1 tsp Vanilla powder or essence

5 Egg Whites (Medium size eggs)

75gm Castor sugar

1/4 tsp Cream of tartar (mixed together with Castor sugar)

Directions

Preheat oven to 180 C.
Sift the flour and add sugar. Add egg yolks, milk, corn oil Use a hand whisk and combine the ingredients until thoroughly blended. Add vanilla powder or essence.
Whisk the egg whites until slightly foamy. Gradually add in the sugar and cream of tartar mixture. Whisk at high speed until stiff peak. Do not over beat the egg whites.
Pour 1/3 of the egg whites into the yolk batter and blend well. Pour the batter onto the egg whites and quickly fold it until well combined. Making sure not to deflate the egg whites. It is best to use a spatula, scraping as you fold.
Pour the mixture into a large piping bag and pipe into cupcake holders to 80% full. (Alternatively, you may spoon the batter into the cupcake holders) Tap the cupcake holder lightly to remove excessive air pockets.
Bake at 180 C for 18 to 20 minutes or until skewer comes out clean when inserted into cupcake.
Place cupcakes onto cooling rack and allow the cake to cool completely before piping the cream into the cupcake. Cupcakes will deflate after completely cooled.

Ingredients for Cream Filling

200ml Non-diary Whipping cream (you may use Diary whipping cream)

4 tsp Instant Custard Powder

Whip the cream till stiff peak and mix the Instant Custard Powder
Fill the mixed cream into a piping bag with piping tip #12 and pipe the cream into the middle of the cupcake.
Pipe a little cream on the top and dust with snow powder or alternatively icing sugar before placing a piece of cut fruit

** You may like to prepare custard cream from scratch and mix with the whipped cream. However, this is perfectly good and easy to make.

Cherilynn n Clarabelle ~ Happy Birthday to both of you!

This is the time of the year where mummy will get extremely busy. First it's Daddy n Mummy wedding anniversary, followed by Father's Day celebration. And finally, both your birthday! Not forgetting that it's school holidays too!

Planning activities to occupy the 2 of you wasn't an easy task when I'm totally running out of resources and energy to keep up with your phase. Furthermore, as you grow bigger I'm growing older too! I'm finding it so difficult to keep up with the 2 of you. However, it's more rewarding to see the both of you healthy and happy ~ What more can I ask for?

You're both into Princesses for the longest time and it's so difficult to get both of you to agreed on a similar one and it has to turn out to be the most difficult of the few princess around ~ SNOW WHITE. Well! at least you did not ask for the Dwarves.

It took me 2 days to sew these 2 pieces of Snow White gowns. Sewing the sleeves was a tough job but I've still managed to get them up where they supposed to be ~ Wheow!

You were both proudly parading in Toys R Us while shopping for your birthday gifts and these had definitely had got some of the other parents into trouble because their girls are all pestering them to buy the gown. Oops!

The 2 princesses happily blowing the candle

And the presents they have gotten for their big day!

Here's the birthday cake that I almost couldn't complete because I broke one layer of it.

Initially, I've expected the cake to be slightly bigger, however I've accidentally broke the 8" layer and left with no choice but to use it as a 3" top layer to make the Snow white princess cake. So the colors of rainbow cake did not turn out in the correct order. Had tried out Wendy's Topo Map Butter Cake recipe. I've reduced the sugar to 200gm instead of the original 250g.

The cake was baked a day before decorating, so I've stacked them up without removing the paper lining that was used during baking. I did not add any buttercream on every layer of the cake because the cake is so moist until it sticks on to every layer after the second day, so I've just removed the paper linings and trimmed the cake into a dress shape. Spread a thin layer of buttercream and chilled the cake in the refrigerator for an hour before I started on fondant.

Here's a closer view of the Snow white cake

Cherilynn, Clarabelle and Clarissa

~ if you've enjoyed the Lime Curd Cake, I'm sure you will love this too!

This is a modified from the Lime Curd Cake that was made some times ago. For a change, I thought maybe should try out with orange flavour. Since everyone at home had loved the Lime Curd Cake, why not try Orange? It turns out pretty good!

Recipe for sponge cake ~ 8" baking pan

Ingredient A ~ Yolk Batter

80g Top Flour or Cake Flour

2 tbsp Cornstarch

3/4 tsp Double action baking powder

4 Large Egg yolks (use 5 if using medium size eggs)

20g Castor Sugar

50ml Milk

50 ml Corn Oil

1/2 tsp Ovalett (Optional)

1/2 tsp Vanilla essence

Ingredient B ~ Egg whites

4 Large Egg whites (use 5 if using medium size eggs)

50g Castor sugar

1/8 tsp Cream of tartar

Directions

Preheat oven to 160 C and prepare a 8" baking pan. Line the bottom of the pan with parchment paper. Do not line the sides. If using the detectable pan, do not have to line the pan at all. (Do not grease the pan)
Sift the flour, corn starch and baking powder together. Add sugar, egg yolks, milk, corn oil, ovalett and Vanilla essence. Use a hand whisk and mix the ingredients until thoroughly blended.
Whisk the egg whites and cream of tartar until slightly foamy. Gradually add in the sugar and whisk at high speed until stiff peak. Do not over beat the egg whites.
Pour 1/3 of the egg whites into the yolk batter and blend well. Pour the batter onto the egg whites and quickly fold it until well combined. Making sure not to deflate the egg whites. It is best to use a spatula, scraping as you fold.
Pour the mixture into the pan and bake for 40 minutes and reduce the temperature to 150 C and bake for another 5 to 10 minutes or until the skewer comes out clean when inserted into the middle of the cake.
Open the oven door for 10 seconds to let the temperature in the oven cool a little before removing the cake from the oven. Invert the cake onto a cooling rack and allow the cake to hang until it is completely cool.

Note: Temperature for baking should be about 160 C to 170 C, depending on your oven.

Alternative method : If you want to cut down the baking time and save energy, you can split the batter into 3 pans and bake for about 15 to 20 mins. Save the efforts on slicing the cake.

Recipe for Orange Curd

Ingredients:

1/3 cup Sunquick Orange Concentrate or Freshly squeezed orange juice) ***
1/2 cup Castor sugar

1 tsp orange zest (optional)

1 tbsp Lime juice
50g Butter (softened in room temperature)
1/4 tsp Orange esssence (optional)
3 Medium size eggs

*** if freshly squeezed orange juice is used, 2/3 cup of sugar in required instead of just 1/2 cup of sugar

Directions

Lightly beat the 3 eggs and strain with a sieve into a small pot.
Place orange zest and sugar in a food processor and blend until incorporated together. Orange zest should become very fine.
Mix the orange zest sugar mixture, orange concentrate, lime juice and food colouring together. Pour into the egg mixture. Heat over low fire and stir with a hand whisk for about 8 to 10 minutes or until the lime mixture is almost thicken.
Remove from heat and add in the softened butter and combine well. Let it cool before putting in the refrigerator for an hour to let the curd set.

Decorating cake

1 1/2 cups Whipping cream (Whipped till almost stiff peak)
1 1/2 cups Orange curd

Layer the sponge cake. Spread a layer of whipped cream followed by a thin layer of orange curd. Repeat this step for the next layer.
Cover cake with whipped cream and spread the rest of the orange curd onto the cake. Let the sides flow down or if you prefer, you can cover the whole cake with orange curd.
Refrigerator for at least 2 hours before serving the cake

Something fanciful which will makes some wondering what it this? I've seen these every time when I go to Thailand but never cross my mind to taste it. Always have an impression that it's some form of extremely sweet candies which will glue to my teeth after biting it. So I always gave it a miss.

Only when I've owned the book 'Tasty Thai' by Jamie Jong did I realised that it's made of Mung Beans aka Split Green beans. It's a pretty easy recipe but what is required most is your delicate touch to every single piece. Can be quite tedious moulding and painting the candies but if you've experiences with clays moulding or fondant moulding, this should be a breeze.

Recipe adapted and modified from "Tasty Thai" by Jamie Jong

Ingredients for Bean Paste

300g Mung Beans aka Split green beans (washed and soaked over night or at least 1 hr)

150g Thick Coconut milk

120gm Sugar (I reduced to 100gm)

3 blades Pandan leaves (cut into short sections)

About 1 cup water

Food colourings

Ingredients for Agar agar mixture

10gm Agar agar powder

400ml Water

2 blades Pandan leaves (knotted)

Directions

Place Pandan leaves on a stainless steel plate or steaming tray. Place the soaked mung beans over the pandan leaves and add adequate water just sufficient to cover the beans. Steam over high heat for 30 mins, or until the beans is cooked. Remove pandan leaves and set aside to cool
When the beans are almost cooled, place in a blender with 100g of coconut milk and blend till a smooth paste.
Transfer paste into a wok, add sugar and the remaining 50g of coconut milk, stir cook over low heat until the paste forms a soft dough (Paste should not stick to wok). Set aside to cool completely before moulding.
Take small amount of bean paste and roll into a round ball before moulding into desired fruit shapes. Insert a toothpick at one end of the shaped fruit and stick onto a Styrofoam board.
Use a soft painting brush and brush shaped fruit with desired colors (diluted with water). Stick the shaped fruit back onto the styrofoam board and let the colors dry
Combine agar agar powder, water and pandan leaves and stir over medium heat until mixture boils. Boil for about 5 minutes, turn of heat and discard pandan leaves.
Dip coloured fruit into agar agar mixture, stick back onto styrofoam board and leave it to set. Dip it again and leave it to set.
Remove fruit from toothpick, decorate with leaves and stems (optional)

Shiro-an しろあん is a white bean paste usually used for making Nerikiri Wagashi. Nerikiri is a dough made of Shiro-an and small amount of Gyuhi mochi to make pretty looking pieces of Jo-namagashi, where they are normally used for Japanese tea ceremony.

Not all types of White beans can be used to make Shiro-an. Usually the Large Lima beans or Navy beans are used to make the Shiro-an.

Instead of getting Large Lima beans which is much easier to make and have a more buttery taste, I've only managed to get Bob's Red Mill Navy beans. Peeling the skin took me 1 1/2 hours and my finger tips were all pruned up by the time I've completed peeling.

I've adapted and modified the recipe from 我♥和菓子 by 山崎彩 and Evan's Kitchen Ramblings.

But if you like a detailed understanding, read from Wagashi Maniac.

Ingredients for Shiro-an (Yields about 340g)

200g Lima or Navy Beans

150g to 200g White granulated sugar (depending on how sweet you'll like it to be)

30ml Water

Directions:

Rinse beans and place in a large bowl filled with plenty of water. Soak in the refrigerator for 12 hours. The beans should swollen to the maximum.
If Lima beans are used, you can peel the skin off so that there will be lesser work later. I used Navy bean and I chose to peel it even when it is smaller.
Place beans in a pot and add water to cover just above the beans. Bring to boil over medium heat.
When water starts boiling, pour in 200ml of water into pot and skim of foams. Repeat this step for 3 times. And after the final round, ensure that the water is about 2 inches above the beans. This is to allow the beans to dance in the water while it is boiling. Reduce to low heat and boil the beans for about 45 minutes to an hour or until the beans are about to crack. Remove from heat. If you have not removed the skins, it will take slightly longer to boil the beans.
Set a stainer over a large bowl and pour the pot of beans over. Discard the water and press the beans over the strainer. If you have not peeled the skin earlier, this step will require a little more efforts to press the beans. Discard the skins.
Top the bean paste with plenty of water and give a gentle stir. Set aside and let it rest for about 5 minutes for the paste to settle to the base of the bowl. This is to remove the tannins (bitterness) of the beans. Repeat this step 3 times. The water should appear clean by after the 2nd or 3rd change of water.
Pour the bean paste mixture over a cheese cloth and gently squeeze off excessive water.
In a saucepan, bring sugar and water to boil. Add the bean paste and cook over medium low heat until the paste comes together into a dry dough form. Set aside to cool and separate into 2 or 3 batches before freezing or refrigerating.

Peeled Navy Beans (Step 2)

Boiled Navy Beans that is about to crack (Step 4)

Bean paste pressed through a strainer (Step 5)

Bean paste cleared with change of water to remove bitterness (Step 6)

Top view of Bean paste cleared with change of water (Step 6)

Bean paste squeezed with cheese cloth to remove excessive water (Step 7)

My first encounter with this was about 19 years back when I first visited Narita, Tokyo. It was at Jusco in a small village where noticed these beautiful delicacies. Not knowing that they are usually meant for eating during Japanese Tea Ceremony, I brought some home with the intention for snacking. Everyone felt that it was too sweet but I feel in love with them. Each trip to Japan, I would definitely seek for these Wagashi Nerikiri. However, my trips to Japan has been cut to just transit at the airport for a couple of hours. I've been missing this for the longest time and it's costs me $36 for just 6 pieces of these in Singapore.

Nerikiri is a dough made of Shiro-anしろあんand small amount of Gyuhi mochi to make pretty looking pieces of Jo-namagashi, where they are normally used for Japanese tea ceremony. Wagashi is the common term for all Japanese traditional sweets such as like mochi or dango. Nerikiri in fact should be under the category of Namagashi. To read more, go to Wagashi Maniac, the text is in German but just it to click the translate bar on the right scroll menu.

I had to do everything from scratch. Making the White Bean Paste (Shiro-an) was really tedious and moulding the Wagashi wasn't as simple as I've expected. In the end, I've just used the cheesecloth to mould the Nerikiri Namagashi. It was really a good experience and here are some of my first few pieces of Nerikiri I've made.

Recipe adapted from 我♥和菓子 by 山崎彩

Ingredients

10g Glutinous Rice Flour
2 to 3 tbsp Water
300g Shiro'an

Directions

Mix 2 tbsp fo water with Glutinous Rice Flour and combine into a smooth dough. If water is insufficient, just add a little at a time.
Boil a pot of water and drop the glutinous rice flour dough and boil until the dough floats to the top and cook for another 2 minutes. (Gyuhi dough)
Place Shiro'an (white bean paste) in a large microwavable bowl, cover the paste with paper towel and microwave at 600W for 1 min and 30 secs.
Add the Gyuhi dough into the Shiro'an and mix well. Microwave for 1 minute.
Pinch dough into small portions and place on a piece of paper towel. Set aside and cool completely. Once cooled, gather the dough together and repeat step 4 and 5 for 3 times. This is to make the dough dryer.

This is a cross section of the Nerikiri where I used Koshi-an (Red Bean Paste) for the filling

Glutinous Rice flour used for making Gyuhi which was mixed with the Shiro'an to make the Nerikiri dough

Koshi'an (Red Bean Paste) bought from Daiso and cooked a little longer to get a dryer paste

Shiro'anしろあんthat was made some time back

Kueh Tutu Re-visited

Chocolate Mousse Cake

Shrimp Dumpling (Har Gow)

Chocolate Fudge Cake

Am i really that unapproachable?

Thai Sticky Rice with Mango

Chocolate Peppermint Cake

Cantonese Style Pickles

Seafood Shang Mee

Eight Treasure Chicken

Silk Wedding Anniversary 2012

Thai Pandan Chicken

Braised Pork Belly (扣肉包) II

Tub Tim Krob (Mock Pomegranate Seeds aka Red Ruby)

Hokkaido Chiffon Cupcakes

Cherilynn and Clarabelle's 4th Birthday

Orange Curd Cake

Look Chuup aka Thai Mung Bean Candy

White Bean Paste ~ Shiro-an しろあん

Wagashi 和菓子 (Nerikiri ねりきり)