Showing posts from May, 2010

Banana, Coconut Cake with Passionfruit Icing

May 29, 2010
Recipe courtesy of  NorB . I have tried many times and each time... my banana cake would turn out ' perfect ' ... moist and not too heavy... the way we like it. I was fond of her recipe... but didn't think to rewrite in my 'recipe book' or scan it... I just used the same piece of paper she wrote ... and of course... that piece of paper tend to ' wander off' ... It was left and 'lost' in one of my recipe books... and I couldn't remember which one!!  What a pain !! Everytime I wanted to bake banana cake.. I'll look everywhere ... (and have been looking eversince we shifted our belongings... which is more than 5 years ago!) Finally... with determination...  I searched each book and flipped pages one by one ... and voila !! found NorB 's handwritten piece of paper...    Thus to avoid another dissapointment ...and the pain of searching ....again!! I am documenting it in my post... A slight change or addition to the or


Chicken Soup with Peanuts...

May 27, 2010
Chicken soup for the soul? Try this Chinese version of chicken soup. This soup is simple to make... just need to buy an old chook (remember...its not for the meat...as the meat will turn out dry and hard..), put all the ingredients (which is not a lot!!) in a slow cooker. The broth is sweet and refreshing.. good for the cold winter and rainy days ... 1 whole chicken -preferably layers or broil or ayam pencen 500g raw peanuts with skin on - washed and soaked for few hours or overnight 4 cm whole ginger 4 cups of water (or more if prefer) Place all the ingredients in a slow cooker with enough water to cover the chicken. Cook for 4 hours on High or 6 hours on Low. Seasoned with salt.


Swedish Meatballs

May 25, 2010
  IKEA = 'Swedish meatballs' ... comes to mind...everytime I drove by IKEA .. on the way to Miss E's school...  And most of the time... the kids will subtly put forward their cravings for IKEA 's meatballs.... 'Mom, Its been a long time since we last had Ikea meatballs'... and as usual this mom would reply ..' Yeah...' and it took a long time before this mom actually cook it for her kids... they eventually forgot about their request ... and cravings... poor kids... :) so here it is... Swedish meatballs... minus the cute Swedish flag!!!  700g mince beef 1 brown onion - chopped 1/4 spoon mixspice 1/4 spoon nutmeg 2 egg yolks 2 slices of bread - process into breadcrumbs salt and pepper Saute chopped onion until slightly brownish. Leave it to cool. Then mix all the ingredients and refrigerate for at least 1 hour. Roll into a ball. Heat 2 tablespoon of oil in a frying pan. Pan fry the meatballs until brown. For the sauce:


Bittergourd Stir Fry

May 20, 2010
Have you tried bittergourd? Some may wonder what bittergourd is...?? Bittergourd or bitter melon is from cucurbitaceae or cucumber family... also known for its medicinal values too... for further information... check out on wikipedia . From young... I would detest anything with 'bitter' taste... I don't like bittergourd and pomelos (it has a bitter aftertaste!!)... My mom used to cook bittergourd as she loves anything bitter.... but I refused to even try it... Mr H too... loves bittergourd and so is Mr H Jr ..... My mom would cook Malay style: stir-fry with sweet soya sauce and pounded chillies, whilst Mr H would cook Chinese style ( recipe as follows... ). Of late... I would try one or two slices... if its bitter... that's it... sayonara !! but I would still buy bittergourd if I see one... but its up to either  Mr H or Mr H Jr to cook it... since I am not eating ..then I am not cooking.... :)  1 bittergourd - thinly sliced 2 garlics - cho


Fragrant Beef Soup

May 18, 2010
Mornings and nights are getting colder as we gear ourselves to welcome winter months... nice wholesome hot soup (plus chillies) .... is simply wonderful :). Note: Need to exercise some precaution when cooking thus eating this meal... I was using 2 bird's eye chilli but the heat was so overpowering... even I could feel the 'chilli burning sensation...' ...let alone my little Miss E ... who can't take any spicy food at all.. :( 500g beef tortellini or ravioli 1 litre beef stock (or 1 1/2 litre of water with 2 cubes of Massel Beef Style Stock) 2 stalks of lemongrass - sliced lengthways 2 red birdseye chillies 200g mushroom - thinly sliced 150g baby spinach Place 1 litre of stock with 2 cups of water, lemongrass and chillies in a large saucepan. bring to boil and simmer for 5 minutes. You have the option of removing the lemongrass and chillies or as I prefer to leave them in.. to let the flavour fuse in with the tortellini. Add tortellini and mushroom, cover


Lavash Crackers

May 15, 2010
  When it comes to breadmaking...  Peter Reinhart will definitely be my No. 1 choice... having tried many bread recipes from countless bakers/chefs... nothing compare to Peter's ~ The Bread Baker's Apprentice ... Our favourites are baguette, cinnamon rolls (next on my list), pizza (base), foccacia, his amazing white bread and celebration bread... Some of his recipes may test one's patience... as it may take as long as 2 days before we could enjoy the smell of freshly baked bread baking in the oven and the taste of homemade bread... oohh so heavenly... My zillion thanks to Mr H ... I received this book as a birthday gift from him, 6 years ago, but have yet to try them all... so my challenge would be ~ try to bake all the bread in his book.... good luck to me!! 1 1/2 cups bread flour 1/2 teaspoon salt 1/2 teaspoon instant yeast 1 tablespoon honey 1 tablespoon canola oil 1/3 to 1/2 cup of water at room temperature topping: poppy seeds, caraway se


Lemony Chicken

May 13, 2010
Few events happened in the last 10 days... computer just gave up on me, previous ADSL provider made a 'boo-boo', Miss E went on her 5 days school camp to Ningaloo Reef and had fun snorkelling and swimming (and here I was worried about her all the time...I know I am being silly!!!). But its all good now... And I am back in my kitchen.... 700-800g chicken breast - thinly sliced 3 egg white 2 tablespoon corn flour oil for frying Mix the egg white with cornflour in a bowl until cornflour dissolved. Mix in the chicken slices. Heat up oil in the wok and fry the chicken pieces by batches until golden in colour. Put aside. 1/2 cup of lemon juice 1/4 cup of water 2 tablespoon of cornflour 1 cube Maggi chicken stock 1 1/2 tablespoon sugar 2 tablespoon honey Dissolve the cornflour in water. Add in sugar, honey, lemon juice and stock. Stir on low fire until thickened. Drain the oil and use the same wok... and re-fry the chicken pieces until heated thoroughly


Banana Pikelets with Maple syrup

May 08, 2010
An easy, yummy... Mothers' Day breakfast to serve...  Miss E will be too tired to make me these... after her trip... and she'll be sleeping in the whole weekend!! Mr H Jr  said he'll make me profiterolles... we shall see.. :) 150g pikelet/pancake mix 1 egg 1 cup milk 2 ripe bananas - mashed and extra for serving Mix all in a mixing bowl and serve with maple syrup. Happy Mothers' Day to all mothers.... Note: My internet connection is still not OK... stay tuned... I'll get back to emails and comments as soon as it is sorted out.... TQ


Honey SemiFreddo

May 01, 2010
Semi-freddo or semi frozen dessert is the next best thing to ice-cream. Its creamy, rich and easy to make... plus always get a thumbs up from everyone.  Anyway... I wouldn't just go out and buy an ice-cream maker just to make ice-cream... its much easier to buy a tub of ice-cream and there are varieties of flavours, full cream. less fat.. etc to choose from. So far I have not seen semi-freddo tubs sold in supermarket yet... My first attempt ... was a total disaster.  and there I was 'blaming' Nigella for not giving out the correct recipe ... as it turn out ... I was the culprit...being impatient and mix everything while honey mixture was still warm... so.. duh !! This is my second attempt in making semi-freddo... it tasted so good ... that you'll want second helping... but I have to be a 'party pooper' and stop everyone after 1st serving as it is so rich and sweet (not yucky sweet...)... don't want that extra baggage around the waistline... ;