Baking : Lemon Muffins

If you want to try making these lemon mufffins, just try to Google on the Internet, because unfortunately I printed the recipe but didn't bookmark the url. This is a simple recipe, with just a handful of easy-to-get ingredients and can be whipped up in a jiffy.

fresh out from the oven	cooling on the rack
without icing sugar dusting	with sugar dusting

Masak-masak : Sambal long beans

Long beans has never been a favourite in my cooking menu. But it's good to go with omelette, fried rice, curry etc. It usually sits at the bottom of the fridge until I realise oh-you-are-still-here-and-not-wilted-yet, then I'm forced to think of a way to prepare it.

This time I cooked it spicy style. I added some mushrooms since I had some to spare.
















Ingredients
long beans
few stalks of mushrooms
1 tomato
2 teaspoons of cili boh paste
1/2 teaspoon of sugar
salt to taste
1 onion
cooking oil
half bowl of water

Stir fry the onions in the oil. Then add long beans & mushrooms and stir fry. Then add tomato, cili boh paste and water to simmer the vegetables. When the vegetables turn tender, add salt and sugar to taste.

You might have a better way to prepare it, but this is my simple version.

Baking : Lemon Cake

I couldn't think of a gift idea for N's birthday. So I told him I will bake a cake for him since I've been doing some baking projects lately. But I had to bake this cake one day late as we were both working on his birthday. And this is the second time I'm baking a birthday cake for him :-)

I had lemons in the fridge and I love lemons…so I decided to bake a lemon cake.

This is a very simple recipe. And you could substitute the lemons for oranges, or just have both!
I tried to bake this recipe the first time with my sisters, and this time I baked it on my own. The kitchen was a mess but the cake turned out fine with a sweet sourish syrup drenched on the cake top :-)

fresh from oven	lightly toasted almond flakes
decorated cake with DIY birthday flag	N and his slice of birthday cake
yummylicious!

Baking : Apple Crumble

I'd a few leftover apples in the fridge. Can't seem to finish them before they turned soft. And then this recipe caught my attention – Apple Crumble! It looked so simple to make with just a few ingredients.

I had too much peanuts and sunflower seeds, so N & I first spent some time to "kopek" the peanuts from their shells. Then I cooked the apples with sugar and water until it turned soft and syrupy. Scooped them up and arranged them in the base of the baking tin.

Then I rub butter to the brown sugar, flour and nuts mixture, and used my fingers to rub them till they turned into rough crumbs. The crumbs were then spread on top of the apples and sent to the oven for baking about 20 minutes. And then it's done!

I think it's a fail proof recipe, try it if you like apples! I suppose you could also try pears instead of apples ;-) http://www.exclusivelyfood.com.au/2006/05/apple-crumble-recipe.html

butter, flour, sugar mix	cooking chopped apples with sugar & water
ready for baking	fresh from oven - nice golden brown topping

Making my first Chicken Glutinous Rice (Lor Mai Kai)

This is one of the old draft posts which I never got to it to update and publish it. This was months ago when I bought a new recipe book by Amy Beh. Amy is the featured writer for the cooking conundrums column in The Star newspaper. You can also find her recipes on here.

The original recipe was for a vegetarian loh mai kai. However, I preferred the non-vegetarian version, so I added the waxed meat (lap cheong) and chicken to it. This recipe requires early preparation to soak the glutinous rice overnight, and involves lots of steps.

I recall the glutinous rice texture came out a bit soft, but the flavour was alright.

If you would like to try the non vegetarian version, try this recipe instead. Here are some photos I took of the cooking process.

The recipe	Arrangement of the ingredients in steel bowls
The seasoning gravy	Steaming the glutinous rice in the wok
The Lor Mai Kai scooped out from the steel bowl.

Steam Prawns with Cucumbers

This is one of my favourite dishes and it’s so easy to prepare especially if you are already planning to cook rice using your rice cooker. I called it steam prawns with cucumbers.

Ingredients (serves 2 to 3 persons):
- De-shelled prawns (10-15 middle size)
- 1 cucumber, cut into wedges
- 1 tomato, cut into wedges
- 1 tsp of oil

- chopped garlic
- Sprinkle of salt
- Dashes of white pepper (optional)

Steps:
1. Arrange the prawns, cucumber and tomato in a bowl / soup plate.
2. Pour the oil over the ingredients.
3. Add garlic, sprinkle some salt and add few dashes of pepper.
4. Put into the steamer plate in your rice cooker.
5. When your rice is cooked, your dish will be cooked too.

If you are not using the rice cooker, then steam the conventional way or do microwave cooking (use your own judgement the cooking duration, should not be too long as the ingredients are easily cooked).

Crunchy Sesame Chicken

I wanted to cook chicken today, however I'm running out of ideas for chicken dishes.

I guess God heard me, so when my MSN homepage came out on my IE browser, this caught my eye "Simple chicken dishes". Immediately I clicked on the link and a whole long list of chicken dishes were displayed for my choosing. I thought this Crunchy Sesame Chicken sounded like a simple dish to prepare.

I printed out the recipe from the website and it didn't take long for me to prepare and serve this dish for dinner. I served them with Thai sweet & sour chilli dip.

One tip - the recipe didn't ask for marinating the chicken. However, the chicken could taste better if you marinade them for at least an hour. You could also add more salt to the recipe.

Homemade Chicken Satay

I bought a microwave oven during the recent CIMB Perfect Living '09 fair. And I've been experimenting with microwave oven cooking for the past few weeks. There were spots and misses. But overall, I scored more.

I had some chicken fillet in my fridge and I was trying to figure out how to cook it. As I flipped my microwave oven recipe book, I saw this...Chicken Satay! Well, I did have the main ingredient (Chicken fillet) and the satay sticks eventhough I don't have the satay sauce. Anyway, I decided to try it out.

I used curry powder, salt, soya sauce, pepper, few dashes of Maggi seasoning sauce and Chinese ShaoTsing wine for marinating the chicken. Then I let it marinade for about 2 hours. The rest was quite simple, I cut the chicken fillets into cubes and skewered them with the satay sticks, trying to cover all surfaces of the stick. (the stick may get burnt if left exposed in the oven).

I followed the instructions on the book, and after about 30 minutes of microwave cooking and grilling, the satay was ready! The aromatic curry smell filled my kitchen. But I thought the chicken was a bit dry, and I could have put more salt to taste. Since there was no satay sauce, tabasco sauce was the next best thing to dip it in.

Braised Chicken with Bittergourd

Today I felt like eating bittergourd. I used to hate eating bittergrourd when I was younger. I guess it is an acquired taste. Somehow I learned to like it when I grew older. And now it has come become one of my favourite vegetables (well, depending on how it is being cooked laa.. :P)

I've always just do plain stir-fry bittergourd with garlic or thin bittergourd slices egg omelette. But today N was longing for this braised chicken with bittergourd dish. Unfortunately I have not cooked this dish before and I've no inkling what to put to flavour the dish.

So again, it's MIL to the rescue! (and you thought it was my mom rite? If it was my mom, do you think I wouldn't have known how to cook after helping her in the kitchen all these years? :P) N called MIL and she helpfully described the cooking steps and recipe. Well, a fast learner like me can quickly pick up how the dish is being cooked without any visual aid ok? hahaha...

Here goes my first try...

Ingredients
Bitter gourd, cut to about 0.5 thick slices
Chicken pieces
Red chillies, cut to think strips
Garlic, chopped
Red onions, sliced
Yellow bean paste (Tau Cheong paste)
Sugar
Soya sauce
Cooking oil
Cornflour
Water


Steps
1. Heat some oil in the wok. Put in some onions and the bittergourd slices, and stir fry the ingredients for 2-3 minutes.
2. Add in the chicken pieces and chilli strips. Stir fry them with the bittergourd.
3. Add few teaspoons of bean paste (not too much, it's salty!) to the stir fry ingredients.
4. Mix some cornflour with water, and pour in to the stir fry ingredients.
5. Add more water if needed. (you need some water to braise the ingredients)
6. Add some sugar and soya sauce to taste (to counter the saltiness of the bean paste and the bitterness of the bittergourd).
7. Stir fry everything a 1-2 minutes, then put on the lid to braise the ingredients.
8. If the bittergourd's fresh green colours turns to darker green, and it it soft enough, then the dish is ready.
9. Dish out and serve.

Well, according to N, I did fairly well for a first-timer. Though he commented it was not salty enough. (aiyah...I say he has a salty tongue, he likes his food to be salty, while I prefer less salt)

My first try at cooking a simple pumpkin dish

I tried cooking my first pumpkin dish this week, with a little advice from my MIL. It wasn't that hard at all :P


Ingredients:
pumpkin, cubed
dried shrimps
red onions, jullienned
garlic, diced
pepper
salt
cooking oil
water


Steps:
1. Heat the cooking oil in the wok.
2. When the oil is hot, put in onions, garlic and dried prawns to fry until they turn a little golden brown.
3. Stir in the pumpkin cubes and stir-fry abit.
4. Add dashes of salt and pepper, and stir-fry to mix the ingredients evenly.
5. Add in some water (not too much, you can still add if not enough) and stir fry a little longer.
6. Cover the wok with the lid to let the "braise" the pumpkin, so that it will turn soft with the closed pressure and heat.
7. Let it cook for 4-5 minutes, then open lid. Try to cut the pumpkin cubes, if the texture is soft already, then it's cooked. Dish out and serve.
8. If the pumpkin texture is still hard, close the lid and let if cook longer.

Fried chicken with chopped chillies

N was out with Kiko to see the vet for Kiko's third vaccination, while I stayed at home to prepare dinner on Friday's after work evening. I was running out of ideas how to cook chicken. I don't want to eat oyster sauce chicken or steam chicken. And dinner has to be on the table when N and Kiko are back.

Without any plan in mind, I decided to marinade the chicken with some salt, chopped garlic and curry powder first. I let it marinade for about 20 minutes while I prepared other dishes. I thought of cooking curry chicken...but then I don't feel like eating curry. And I remembered buying some fresh chillies. So I chopped them up, and using the blade of the knife, pressed the chopped chillies a little to mash them up a bit.

While doing all these, I still had not much idea how my chicken dish is going to turn out. I went by my instinct. First I fried the marinated chicken into light golden brown. Then I fished them out from the oil and set them aside. Then with the remaining oil in the wok, I threw in the chopped chillies, onions, garlic, put a bit of salt and stir fry them. Then I pour the stir-fried chillies, onions and garlic over the chicken. Voila! There's my self-invented recipe of chicken dish :P

The stir-fried chillies was abit too oily as I should have pour away the extra oil aftr frying the chicken, but I didn't. Anyway, the dish turned out ok. It was not spicy enough as I'd expected. But it was a new taste, and something to add to my DIY recipe book :P

If you want to try it or improvise it, here's the recipe:

Fried marinated chicken
3 cloves of garlic, chopped
300 - 500gms chicken parts
few dashes of salt
approx. 3 tablespoons curry powder

1. Mix all and let it marinade for at least 20 mins
2. Heat some oil in wok and fry the chicken.
3. When chicken turn golden brown, fish them out from the oil and set aside to cool.


Stir fry
3 cloves of garlic, chopped
2 small red onions, chopped
2 chillies, chopped
dash of salt
about 3 teaspoons of leftover oil from frying chicken

1. Use the blade of knive and press the chillies (to mash them up abit to form chilli paste)
2. Heat oil in wok and put in garlic and chillies for stir fry.
3. After 1-2 minutes of "tumis", pour in the fried chicken and stir-fry to mix the ingredients.
4. Stir-fry for another 2 minutes.
5. Ready to be served.

Fascination of blender and banana honey milkshake

I've bought a bunch of pisang emas a few days ago. When I bought them, they were still greenish yellow in colour. But they turned yellow in just a day. Anyway, that's not my point. My point is yesterday night, I enjoyed my first homemade banana honey milkshake. Not that I never drank banana milkshake before, but having it prepared by N is not an everyday's luxury ok? :P

I finally bought a Philips blender two weekends ago. N's quite fascinated with the idea of blending fruit juices and milkshakes and ice blended drinks and smoothies and....well, you get the idea. Meanwhile, I'm pretty impressed with the chopper function. It shaves off lots of time chopping up the garlics and carrots and any other food you can think off. NOW I know how useful and convenient the chopper can be.

In case you're wondering, I'm not trying endorse any Philips products here, or trying to show off my new blender. I'm just sharing the fascination and joy of buying my first own blender and making yummy drinks out of it. Hmm..chillies, garlics and gingers will be next. Not for drinks laa..for my curry dishes laa... ;-)

Oh, I almost forgot, if you're looking for banana honey milkshake recipe...

Ingredients:

3 or 4 bananas (depending on size and how banana-ish taste you like)

2 tablespoons of honey

1 small box of milk

Steps:

1. Peel and cut bananas into smaller chunks (2-3 cm)

2. Put bananas into blender jug and pour in the milk.

3. Add honey.

4. Blend the mixture for few seconds until it's foamy and all bananas seems to be blended into bits.

5. Put some ice cubes and enjoy your drink.

Stir Fried Vegetables with Pasta

I prefer to cook noodles or porridge for weekend lunches at home. So I flipped my recipes book for ideas..."Stir Fried Vegetables with Pasta"...aha..that's something easy and I've most of the ingredients.

1. First, chopped up the vegetables (you can substitute any of the veg e.g. capsicums, beansprouts, courgettes etc. ):
- baby corns cut into 2cm and halved,
- carrots cut into strips
- cabagges cut into thin strips
- some ginger flower ( not sure what you call them in English, looks like ku chai / spring onions with small flower buds)
- ginger cut into strips

2. Then boil the spaghettti for about 13 minutes or until al dente (follow instructions on packaging). You can substitute this with other types of pasta. Drain the water, and immersed in cold water for later use.













3. Now the stir-fry part. Heat up some oil in the wok, stir fry the ginger strips until it turns abit brown.
4. Add in the vegetables. Stir fry until the vegetables are medium cooked.
5. Add in the cooked spaghetti and continue to stir fry.
6. Add 2-3 tablespoons of yellow bean paste (tau cheong) and mix it well with the ingredients in the wok.
7. Continue to stir fry for another few minutes. Then serve it hot.

The recipe above is vegetarian, so I had added fried marinated pork slices. Just add salt, pepper, soy sauce and some cornflour to marinate. Then fry it in hot oil in the work. I did this before I cook stir fry the pasta and vegetables. So I could reuse the remaining oil for stir frying the pasta and vegetables.

Serve the stir fried vegetables with pasta with the pork slices, and sprinkle some toasted sesame seeds on top...tadaa! You have your quickie lunch meal. ( The keropok-like thing you see in the picture below is papadam..nice! )

To wash it down nicely, I also cooked a pot of chinese tea.

My first try at cooking sambal udang petai

I had bought the Maggi sambal pedas paste during one of my groceries shopping trip. And got some petai and limau purut leaves from the pasar borong last week. N had volunteered to "kopek" the petai so I had no excuse to not cook the sambal udang petai dish.

This was my first try at cooking this dish, so both of us were abit excited. You must be thinking that both of us must be crazy to be excited over one dish. But you see, we both love this dish, and petai, alot :P

The cooking turned out to be quite simple in fact. I had followed the cooking instructions on the sambal paste packaging and added my own ingredients, and voila!...you have the sambal dish.

Ingredients I used: de-shelled prawns, petai, ladies fingers, red onions, cut chillies, limau purut leaves, a bowl of asam jawa juice, tomatoes, some sugar and salt to taste, and of course the sambal paste.

First I lightly fry the onions and chillies, then put in the petai and ladies fingers, pour in the asam jawa juice, the sambal paste, tomatoes and the limau purut leaves to boil for like 5-7 minutes. When the fragrant smell of sambal permeates your kitchen, put in the prawns and boil for few minutes more. Then switch of the fire, and serve. Itu macam aje, kan senang? ;-)

Excuse me for the poor photo qualities, taking photos while cooking is not a simple task when you have oily fingers :P

some of the ingredients for "sambal udang petai"	"tumis" the onions and chillies
boiling the gravy	my first sambal udang petai (we had roti canai to dip in the leftover the next morning :P)
some fried taufu with thai chilli sauce	the 3-course dinner (abit too much for 2 persons hor?)

Happy Mother's Day baking class

I asked N if I can post this in my blog, and he gave me the go-ahead and suggested I put the "free advertisement liner" (see below).

N has actually went for this Mother's Day baking class sponsored by the company. So the cake you are seeing below is the cake he has done (*looks very professionally done, I must say. Not sure about the taste though because obviously it was not meant for me. According to N, it tasted awesome.)











Male, 28, "interested" in cooking, frequents the gym and a jovial person.
Single but not available.

Konnyaku Jellies for Mich's dinner gathering

Last Saturday, I was busy preparing some konnyaku jellies again for the little dinner gathering at Mich's place. This time around, I remembered to snap some pictures while I was at it.

I couldn't get the usual brand from the Giant supermarket I went to. So I resorted to this brand. It costs around RM2.19 per packet.



And I got this small bucket of Nata De Coco too (about RM5.49).



Then I prepared the jelly moulds (containers). I had asked lil sis's help to put in the nata de coco cubes into the moulds while I boiled the jelly mix.



Pretty easy, I just followed the instructions on the jelly packet. I had cooked 2 packets of jelly powder. I mixed the jelly powder with sugar (I had used 4 tbsp, but it wasn't sweet enough, I supposed 6 tbsp would be better). Then slowly poured the mixture into cool water (about 1.6 litre, supposed to be 2 litre, but it seems too diluted so I changed the portion). After that, I bring the mixture to boil, slowly stirring it while it simmers.

When it seems that all powder has diluted in the water and mixed well, I turned off the heat. Then using a ceramic soup spoon, I spooned the mixture into the moulds (with the nata de coco already put in). Stir the mixture whenever appropriate to make it easier to spoon it out. The mixture is abit glue-y.

Then leave them to cool. You can popped out the jellies from the mould after about 45 mins. Chilled them in the fridge before serving.



And oh, for those who missed the dinner gathering...we enjoyed ourselves with Mich's spaghetti and grilled chicken wings, red wine and pizzas. And we had good laugh watching her wedding video together. No pictures, sorry :P

Mom's Fried Mihun

Let me set it straight before I start, I did not cook this. I only helped in preparing the ingredients, and a little of stirring and mixing the ingredients in the wok.

Mom was in her better moods on last weekend, so I helped her out in the kitchen. It was fried mihun for lunch. We had garlic, onions, cabbages, eggs, carrots, mushrooms, tomato, ikan bilis (anchovies) & of course mihun for ingredients. For flavouring, we used dark ketchup.

Some of the ingredients


Frying the chopped garlic, onions & anchovies. The scrambled eggs is shown at the bottom of the picture.


Throw in the vegetables and mihun, and stir fry.


More stirring & frying...


I realised I was too hungry at that time and proceeded to gulp down the mihun right after mom finished cooking. I forgot to snap a photo of the mihun serving :P

If you prefer something tomato-ish with noodles, you might want to check out tomato sauce mee.