CHEDDAR CHEESE CAKE (2)

This cheddar cheese cake is savoury and slightly on salty side . It has a very strong cheese taste which explodes in your mouth on the first bite. The added nut really gives the cake extra flavor and body. You can use mixture of your favorite nuts if you do wish. Its taste is very extraordinary and goes very well with a cup of coffee. The texture is dense and moist. This cake is definitely for cheese lovers.

Recipe (adapted from Alex Goh's Creative Making of Cakes)

Ingredients:

(A)

250 g butter

230 g sugar

(B)

4 eggs

(C)

80 g cheddar cheese

(D)

100 ml milk

280 g plain flour

1 teaspoon baking powder

Method

~1) Cream (A) till light and fluffy.

~2) Add (B) and cream till smooth and light.

~3) Add diced (C) and mix till well combined.

~4) Lastly add (D) and mix well incorporated.

~5) Bake at 180º C for 45 minutes.

CHEESE FU ZHU ROLL 芝士腐竹卷

I got the idea from a recipe book using cheddar cheese put in the roll. The original recipe uses prawn paste. As I have leftover of fish paste from my previous preparation of Niang toufo , I used the fish paste instead of the prawn paste . It is simply delicious .

One must use Hong Kong bean curd skin as it is unsalted (otherwise the food will be too salty) . Don't buy from market, the bean curd skins found in the market are salted. hence they are not suitable for this recipe. Hong Kong bean curd skins are available at Kwong Cheong Thye Pte.Ltd.

The food can be a starter of a meal or a snack. The skin is crispy and inside is moist. I am sure the children will love it very much.

Recipe

Ingredients:

600 g shrimps

2 pieces Hong Kong bean curd skin

1 packet of cheese

Seasoning:

6 g salt

15 g sugar

dash of pepper and sesame oil

9 g premium cornflour (wind mill flour)

Method:

~1) De vein and wash the shrimps, marinate with sesoning,blend the mixture until turns into a gluey paste.

~2 Cut cheese into 3 cm long

~3) Cut bean curd skin into 12 cm x 12 cm

~4) wrap the filling and cheese with the skin and roll up.

~5) Deep fry in medium heat until golden brown.

~6) Garnish and serve hot.

ENJOY !

Niang Toupok and Chillies

When talking about niang toufu (stuffed bean curd), most of us know it is the signature dish of the Hakka people. When I was young, my mother used to prepare this dish during Chinese New Year and other Chinese festivals. She bought the fish from the market and scraped the meat to make into fish paste and used the fish bones for making stock. In modern society, fish paste can be bought easily from wet market from the fish ball stall. It really saves a lot of the trouble and work needed to make it ourselves.

Today, I didn't make niang toufu. I "niang"ed tau pok and chillies. My gravy for the chillies is unlike people who put black bean paste (taucheong). I only used light soy sauce, sugar and water. This is my mother's recipe and my family liked it very much.

Recipe

Ingredients:

~ 1) fish paste 400g

~2) Minced pork 200 g

`3) water chestnuts 6 ( coarsely chopped)

~4) red chillies 10 pcs

~5) green chillies 5 pcs

~6) small square taupok 20 pc

~7) spring onions ( finely cut)

~8) pepper, salt, sesame oil to taste

Gravy for the chillies:

3 tablespoon light soy sauce

1 1/2 - 2 tbsp. sugar

1/2 cup water

cornflour for thickening the sauce

Method:

1)THOROUGHLY COMBINE fish paste, minced meat, salt, spring onions, water chestnuts.

2) cut each red and green chillies length ways. Remove the seeds and thick membranes. Pad dry

with kitchen tissue pepper and spread little cornflour on the inner surface.

3) Cut each taupok into half. And turn inside out.

4) Fill the chillies, taupok with minced mixture.

5)Heat up wok, put enough oil , When the oil is hot , carefully place the taupok pieces, meat side down, deep fried until lightly golden brown, turn to the other side. When both sides are golden brown, transfer to a plate.

6) With the same wok, remove excess oil, just leave enough oil to pan fry the chilies, meat side down. When the meat colour change white , pour the light soy sauce , stir fry for few seconds until you smell aromatic. Pour in water and sugar, let simmer (low heat, do not cover with lid) until the chillies are cooked. Thicken the sauce with cornflour. Garnish and serve.

NOTE: fish paste from the market is quite salties. So do not add too much salt.

Japanese Cheese Cake (2)

Most of us like to eat cheese cake. This time I am baking a Japanese Cheese Cake adapted from K.L popular chef, Alex Goh. It tastes as good as the one I described in my previous post (click here).

Recipe

Ingredients:

(A)

35 g sugar

250 g cream cheese

250 g UHT milk

30 g butter (melted)

5 nos egg yolks

50 g plain flour

50 g corn flour

1 tbsp. lemon juice/ lemon zest

(B)
5 nos egg whites (use B egg approx. 60 g each)

1/4 tsp. cream of tartar

100 g sugar

pinch of salt

Method:

1) Cream sugar (use K-beater) and cream cheese till light and soft.

2) Cook milk till boil immediately add into cream cheese mixture, mix till well blended.

3) Add in the hot melted butter mix well.

4) Fold in corn flour and plain flour till well blended.

5) Add in egg yolk one at a time, lemon juice mix well till evenly mix.

6) Beat egg white till foamy. Add in cream of tartar, sugar and salt till stiff but not hard.

7) Mix the egg white mixture with the cheese mixture (5) till well blended.

8) Grease the sides of a 10"-round cake tin and line the cake base with parchment paper. Pour mixture into the cake tin, water bath at 160° C for +- 60 minutes at lower rack.

Cabbage Rice With Fine Anchovy 包菜银鱼饭

Too lazy to prepare 1 main dish 2 side dish and a soup for tonight's dinner. After all, only three of us are eating at home. I wanted to cook something which is simple and takes little time for preparation. So I decided to cook this teochew/hokkien-styled cabbage rice which is also known as "guo lay cai beng" , if I am not wrong.
Recipe: (Adapted from Famous cuisine No. 55)
Ingredients (A)
150 g cabbage ( cut into 1 inch square )
150 g chicken drumsticks meat ( cut into cubes)
2 cups (260 g) white rice
4 Chinese mushrooms (soaked, cut into cubes)
8 dried oysters
2 pcs. pandan leaf (knotted)
360 ml water
2 tablespoon cooking oil
Ingredients (B):
3 pips garlic (sliced)
3 shallo (sliced)
Seasoning:
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon dark soy sauce
Marinade:1 teaspoon sugar
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon sesame oil
1 teaspoon corn flour
1/4 teaspoon dark soy sauce
1/4 teaspoon "Shaoxing" wine

Method:1) Wash rice, set aside. Season the chicken meat with marinade ingredients, ready to cook.
2) Heat up 2 tablespoon cooking oil in the rice cooker, saute garlic and shallot until fragrant. Remove fried garlic and shallots. Leave some oil to stir-fry mushrooms, dried oyster and chicken meat until fragrant.
3) Add in rice, pandan leaves, seasoning and water, toss well. Cover and let in cooks for 10 minutes.
4) Add in cabbage, continue to cook until rice is done.
5) Serve with fried shallots and fried anchovy and some coriander leaves/spring onions.

ENJOY!

THE BEST MARBLE BUTTER CAKE

For my cake above, I only used cocoa and vanilla flavour. 1/3 batter +25 g cocoa powder, 2/3 batter add in vanilla essence)

I personally classify this as the best butter cake! The texture of the cake is soft, moist, buttery and fragrant. I have even passed this recipe to my friends in Hong Kong, China, Malaysia and Indonesia - they all love it very much.

This recipe originated from a Recipe Book that I have gotten from more than 20 years ago. It was an exchange using 3 SCS butter or ButterCup wrappers! In total, I had collected 3 different Recipe Books.

Some of the recipes from the books are good, as well.
_____

Recipe

Ingredients:

250 g BUTTERCUP

250 g self raising flour

1/2 teaspoon baking powder

250 g fine caster sugar

Pinch of salt

6 eggs (use 4 egg whites)

1/4 cup Evaporated milk + 1/4 cup water to make 1/2 cup

25 g cocoa powder 1/2 teaspoon vanilla

Few drops red colouring

1/2 teaspoon lemon essence


Method:

1. Cream Buttercup and sugar till creamy and fluffy.

2. Sieve flour and baking powder .

3. Add egg one at the time to the creamed BUTTER mixture. Fold in flour and milk alternately and mix mixture till blended.

4. Divide mixture into 3 unequal portion.

5. Add cocoa and vanilla to the smallest portion (4 tablespoons butter)

6. Add red colouring to 14 tablespoons of cake mixture. Add the rest of the mixture with orange essence.

7. Grease a 9" round or 8" square cake tin with BUTTERCUP. Sprinkle with flour. Fill tin with a tablespoon of different mixtures so that the cake when baked will have a marbled effect.

8. Heat oven 375°F or 190°C. Bake in a preheated oven for 40-45 minutes. Lower the oven temperature slightly after 30 minutes of first baking.

9. Cool cake in tin and invert it on wire rack. Cool and serve it with tea or coffee.

__

Nyonya Nasi Ulam

The first encounter with nasi ulam was few years ago. It was prepared by my true-blue nyonya friend. It was simply so delicious.

Nasi Ulam is a traditional mildly spiced rice salad, popularly enjoyed amongst Penang nyonyas and babas. It is prepared with a combination of cooked rice, fried salted fish, fried fish, dried shrimps, (or fried fresh prawns) pepper, roasted grated coconut and local herbal leaves. Usually served cold together with other traditional dishes such as pickles, curries, sambal belacan, etc.

It's quite troublesome to gather and chop up so many herbs but the dish is so absolutely fragrant and delicious, served with sambal belacan that it's worth the effort.

Recipe (serves 4)

A
-- 2 cups (280 g rice, washed and drained)

-- 2 1/4 cups (450 ml) water

-- 1 chicken stock cube

B

-- 3 tablespoons dried shrimps, -soaked, fried and finely pound

-- 1/2 cup finely pounded roasted, grated coconut

-- 1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper or to taste
-- salt to taste

-- 20 g salted fish meat ("ikan kurau") -soaked to reduce saltiness, drained

-- 300 g batang fish (deep fried and flake)

-- 200 g small prawns ( fried )

--oil for shallow frying

C

-- 3 stalks lemon grass, thinly sliced

-- 2 bulbs ginger flowers,finely shredded

-- 8 " limau purut" leaves (kaffir lime leaves) finely shredded

-- 1 " daun kunyit" (turmeric leaves) finely shredded

-- 2 tablespoon finely chopped mint leaves

-- 2 tablespoon finely shredded daun kesum (polygon um leaves)

Method:

~1) In an electric rice cooker, place ingredients A and blend well.

~2) cook covered until rice is done. Uncovered and fluff rice, cool.

~3) Meanwhile, heat oil and fry salted fish until crisp and lightly brown. Drain and pound until fine.

Fry the fish, flake. And then fry the prawns.
~4) In bowl, combine salted fish, ingredients B, C and rice. Toss and mix well all ingredients.

~5) Serve immediately, if desired as an accompaniment to chicken curry.

SAMBAL BELACAN

-- 30 g shrimp paste (belacan)

-- 8 red chillies
-- 1/2 teaspoon salt

METHOD

~1) Grill shrimp paste until aromatic and dry.

~2) Blend the red chillies, shrimp paste and salt together until quite smooth.

~3) Use as required in the recipe.

~4) If serving the above sambal as a condiment, add in 1-2 tablespoon of freshly squeezed small limes juice.

NB. Source and information are adapted from 2 different magazines. I have improvised the recipe a little bit.

Fresh Blueberry Muffins ( 1)

I bought 2 packs of blueberry from Giant Hyper Mart on National Day Eve. It was on sale; the price was cheaper than usual. and the fruits were fresh. As I had wanted to try on this recipe from a branded flour manufacturer long time ago, hence I got all my ingredients ready and baked at once.

After an hour of huff and puff, the cake turned out to have a texture that is fine and soft, it gave a "pop pop" filling in the mouth when I bit on the fresh berries, and surround the mouth with full fragrance of the blueberry taste.

Verdict: the cake is a bit sticky. It sticks between your gums, so get ready a cup of drink. I also found it a tad too sweet. If u do not have a sweet tooth, I recommend to reduce the amount of honey. On the whole, it is still worth trying.

Recipe

Ingredients:

* 300 g self-raising flour

* 150 g caster sugar

* 15 g milk powder (2 tablespoon)

* 120 g butter/margarine

* 30 g (5 tablespoon) honey

* 2 eggs (90 g)

*1/2 teaspoon vanilla essence

* 165 g (3/4 cup) water

* 90 g+ - fresh blueberries

Method:

~1) Preheat oven to 180° C (350° F)

~2) Cream sugar, milk powder, butter and honey beat together until light.

~3) Add eggs in 4 stages.

~4) Sift in the self-raising flour, and add alternately with the water to the batter.

~5) Blend in blueberries.

~6) Deposit batter in paper-lined muffin pans or cupcake pans. Bake for 20 - 25 minutes or until done.

Potato Tuna Patties

"Stir fry potatoes with chicken? Stir fry minced meat with potatoes? Or boil potato soup? Aya! no-lah," I was talking to myself what to do with the potatoes. Finally, I decided to cook potato patties.

Recipe (about 8 pcs)

Ingredients:

*200 g potatoes (boiled)

*1 can tuna fish 185 g ( drain well)

*80 g big onion (chopped)

*1 egg

*1 tablespoon tapioca flour

* 8 bird's eye chillies (chopped)

coating: 1 egg, lightly beaten

seasoning:

1/2 tsp. salt;

1 tsp. sugar;

1 tsp. chicken stock powder

Method:

*1) Peel and mash potatoes. Combine with tuna fish, onion, chillies, egg and tapioca flour. Season the mixture with the seasoning. Mix and blend well.

*2) With well floured hands, shape mashed potato into egg-sized balls. Flatten slightly, dust lightly with flour and dredge with beaten egg.

*3 ) Heat oil in a wok over high fire . Fry patties until golden brown . Drain cutlets on paper towels and serve hot.

ENJOY!

干扁四季豆

在我家附近有 一家餐馆名叫'大食家'，他们的招牌之一 干扁四季豆非常好吃。今天突然心血来潮想自己大显厨艺就敢敢照着食谱炒了一碟给家人吃。 他们吃了还称赞说，"不 错，不错， 有酒楼的水准"。假如你有兴趣可以跟着这个食谱做。

食谱：

材料：

四季豆 - 200克，
冬菜 - 10 克
猪肉碎 - 80 克
葱花 - 10 克
蒜茸 - 10 克
上汤 - 120 克
（喜欢吃辣的可以加上一些辣椒丝）

调味料：
生抽 - 1 汤匙
糖 - - 1/2 茶匙
老抽 - 1 汤匙
麻油 - 1/2 汤匙
花雕酒 - 1/2 汤匙

做法：
1。先把四季豆的头部切除。

2 将其请洗后放入七成熟的油锅炸至熟。

3。将猪肉碎，蒜茸和冬菜放进锅里爆香。

4。再加入上汤，四季豆和调味料一同炒，然后焖至汁干。

5。最后撒上葱花即可。


烹饪小贴士
##在炸四季豆时，可用凉水洗净，以保持四季豆的绿素。
##可用猪骨或鸡来熬上汤，熬上4小时。
##四季豆富含蛋白质和多种氨基酸。经常食用能健脾胃。增进食欲。

Radish Beef Soup 白萝卜牛筋汤

If you are planning to go Ipoh, I will recommend this place for a MUST-TRY famous dish at 文冬口@ 73,75 Jln Theatre (opposite junction with Jln Jubilee). Their signature dish is their white radish soup with beef. the taste is simply fantastic - you cannot find similar in Singapore.

Today I suddenly missed the taste so decided to try cooking by myself. See below for the result of a broth, only need 1 hour to prepare.

RECIPE:
Ingredients:
1 large radish (cut into portions the size u like)
800g beef brisket
50g ginger lightly mashed
1 pinch of crushed white pepper

Method:
1) Cook 2800ml of water, radish and beef tenderloin in pressure cooker. Cook for 40 mins. (Alternative: cook in slow cooker until meat is tender)

2) Add salt, pepper, light soya sauce to taste.

3) Serve hot with chinese parsley and spring onion.
_________
Very simple to cook but deliciously tasty.

Stir Fry Beef With Ginger And Spring Onions 姜葱炒牛肉

What's for dinner tonight? I opened my fridge, I 've got spring onions, beef and ginger. So I decided to cook this simple yet tantalizing dish for dinner.

Recipe

Ingredients:

300 g beef
50 g spring onion (cut into portions)
50 g ginger (sliced)

Gravy:
- 1 tablespoon oyster sauce
- 1 teaspoon light soy sauce
- 1/2 teaspoon sugar
- 1 tablespoon 'shao shin' wine
- 1/2 bowl water

Method:

1) Cut beef crosswise into thin slices. Marinate with
- quarter teaspoon salt
- 1 teaspoon light soya sauce
- 1/2 teaspoon corn flour
- 1/2 teaspoon sesame oil
- dash of pepper

2) Heat wok. Parfry beef then dish out. Leave 1 tablespoon of oil in wok. Stirfry ginger until fragrant. Add spring onion, stirfry for 1 minute until soft.

3) Quickly add in gravy and beef. Stirfry until beef is tender. Thicken with starch.

4) Serve hot. (optional: Add a dash of pepper)

____

Simple dish but goes very well with hot plain rice!

Mango Juice Drink Cheese Cake (chilled)

It has been quite some time since last December that I made any non baked cheese cake. My youngest son requested me to make one of his favourite chilled cheese cakes. So I decided to make cheese cake with mango juice drink.

The biscuit crust is crispy, the cheese is soft not sweet, and is abit tangy sour with a hint of lemon flavour. Invite a few friends over for a afternoon high tea. What a wonderful and happy day it will be.

Recipe

BASE

300 g digestive biscuits, crushed

100 g melted butter

CREAM CHEESE MIXTURE

1 packet mango juice drink (250 ml) any brand you like

1 1/2 tablespoon gelatine

375 g cream cheese

100 g sugar

1 tablespoon lemon juice

1 cup or 200 g whipping cream

TOP LAYER

1 1/2 packet mango juice drink (375 ml)

1 tablespoon sugar

3 tablespoon cornflour

Method:

~1) BASE: combine all the ingredients and press into a 10" round spring form baking tin. Chill in the fridge for 20 minutes or until the base is firmed.

~2) CREAM CHEESE MIXTURE:

a) Boil gelatine with mango juice  until dissolves. Leave to cool.

b) Use a K-beater to beat cream cheese, sugar until smooth and creamy. Add in lemon juice.

c)Add in gelatine mixture and stir well.

d) Mix in whipped fresh cream in 2 or 3 batches. Then pour mixture into the prepared base (biscuit crust).

e) Chill in the fridge for 3 hours or until the cheese mixture is well set.

TOP LAYER:

cook till sugar dissolves and transparent. When cool, pour onto the top of the well set cheese cake and return to the fridge to chill overnight. Cut into pieces and serve.

Preserved Mustard Cabbage with vegetable meat balls 梅菜素丸子

In my older post in May, I introduced preserved mustard cabbage with belly pork. This time, I prepared a vegetarian style for vegans and more health-conscious friends. Earlier on, I had cooked this dish as an offering for my sister's 1oo days death anniversary. My nieces and their children all liked it very much. The younger children couldn't tell that they were eating veg. meat balls.

The "meat balls" taste just as similar to real meat balls and go very well with the crunchy preserved vegetables.

Give it a try.

Recipe

Ingredients:

250 g vegetarian meat balls

1 small piece (15 g) fresh ginger (sliced)

1 red chilli (shredded)

3 chilli padi ( lightly smash)

100 g sweet preserved mustard cabbage

150 g water (or more)

Seasoning:

2 tablespoon light soy sauce

1/2 teaspoon oil

1/4 teaspoon sugar

Method:

1) Rinse the preserved mustard cabbage, soak into water for 15 - 20 minutes, remove, drain well and chopped coarsely, ready to use.

2) Heat up 2 tablespoon oil in the clay pot (or wok) to fragrant ginger , sprinkle in light soy sauce, stir-fry until aromatic, add in vegetarian meat ball immediately, toss well. Pour in chopped preserved mustard cabbage, shredded chillies and chilli padi. Stir fry briskly for a moment.

3) Add in water and the remaining seasoning, once boiled, cover with lid and let it simmer over medium heat for 15 - 20 minutes until the sauce is slightly absorbed, then thicken with a little cornstarch . Remove from heat and ready to serve.

ENJOY!

Citron Tea Chiffon Cake 柚子茶戚风蛋糕

I have totally forgotten that I still have half a bottle of the citron tea which was kept in the fridge, until yesterday when I cleaned the inside of my fridge. As I have always wanted to try 赤堀博美's recipe, this was a good opportunity to use up some of the citron tea. Other than changing the Orange Marmalade to Citron Tea in the recipe, I did not make other changes.

The cake turned out better than what I had expected. It brought out the light flavour of the citron, the texture was light and as soft as cotton. It tasted even better if taken together with a little bit of Citron jam . For chiffon cake lovers , I am very sure you will like this cake.

Recipe: adapted from Q超润戚風

(A)

~80 g egg yolks ( about 4 yolks)
~30 g sugar

~100 c.c salad oil

~100 c.c water/juice

~160 g plain flour (I used superfine flour) > sieve twice

~1/4 teaspoon salt

~130 g citron tea paste

~2 tablespoon Cointreau (optional) I don't have so I used plain water )

(B)

~ 7 egg whites (120 g)

~ 40 g caster sugar

Method:

1) Place egg yolks and sugar in a mixing bowl ,use hand beater to stir until sugar dissolves and egg yolks turn into pale colour.

2) Add in salad oil, stir well, then water, Cointreau,water/juice, and citron tea, whisk well to emulsify the oil.

3）Pour flour into Step (2) and mix well incorporated.

4) In another clean bowl, beat ingredients B until stiff but not hard.

5) Pour 1/2 portion of egg white mixture into egg yolk mixture stir well, and pour the remaining 1/2 egg white mixture into step 5 until well combined.

6) pour batter into a 20 cm chifffon cake mould.

7) Bake in preheated oven at 170 °C for 50 -60 minutes.

8) Remove cake from oven , invert the pan immediately. Demould the cake when it is completely cool.