Mango With Glutinous Rice - 椰汁芒果糯米饭

Recipe: serves 4

Ingredients (A):
200 g glutinous rice (soaked  in water for 30 minutes)
2 to 3 pcs of Pandn leaves

Ingredients  (B)Topping
1 cup coconut milk
2 to 3 tablespoon sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt

(C) 1 mango, sliced  (I like rainbow mango from Thailand)

Method:
1) Mix topping and cook over low  flame, keep stirring till just boil.
2)  With microwave cooking method: Drain rice and transfer to a casserole, add water just above the rice.  Place pandan leaves on top. Cover and cook on high heat for 10 to 15 minutes in microwave oven. Check the doneness.  Add 1/2 portion of  Topping into rice and mix well.  Cover and stand for another 15 to 20 minutes.
3)  Transfer  the rice pudding on a serving plate with mango slices and drizzle with the remaining topping.

Enjoy!

Note: You can steam the glutinous rice in a steamer over high flame  for 30 minutes.

Chinese Steamed Rice Cake - 白糖糕

I would like to share with you this simple and tasty Chinese steamed cake.  I made it today. The Chinese steamed cake turned out to be springy and fragrant.  Give it a try if you are a fan of baitanggao (白糖糕）。

Recipe: Adapted from Josephine's Recipes

Ingredients:

A)Yeast Stater:
     1 teaspoon instant dried yeast
     2 tablespoon warm coconut milk (below 38 deg C)

Method: Mix well and rest for 20 minutes.

B) Main batter:
i)   280 g rice flour
     300 ml water
ii) 140 g sugar
     200 ml water
     100 ml coconut milk

Method:
1) In a big bowl, mix well ingredients i) till smooth.

2)  Boil ingredients ii) till the sugar dissolves and the syrup just comes up to a boil.

3) Pour the hot syrup into rice flour mixture. Whisking constantly, and let the batter cool to room temperature.

4)  Add yeast stater into cool cooked batter. Cover and leave for 2 hours at room temperature.

5)  Grease a 20 cm round cake pan and place it in the steamer to preheat for 5 minutes.  Then uncover, pour the batter into the hot pan,  cover the steamer tightly and steam for 25 - 30 minutes until risen and springy -firm.

Angku Kueh

What do I do with mung beans?

Initially I was preparing them for tao suan (a type of Chinese dessert) but changed my mind because none of my children fancy it. So I ground the mung beans into paste as ang ku kueh fillings.

I have made purple, green and yellow ones (link here) and my mood today convinced me to make ang ku kueh with red skin. The skin dough is made up of  sweet potato and glutinous rice flour. The sweet potato used was yellow and after adding a little bit of red colouring, the appearance of the dough turned into a lovely rosy cheek colour . They are lovely and sweet.

Crispy Sardine Croquetts- 香脆沙丁鱼可乐饼

Its tastes so good. The outside is crispy and inside is moist and soft. This croquetts  is suitable for tea-time and even dinner time served on the table with chilli sauce or mayonnaise.

Recipe:

Ingredients:
3 medium sized potatoes
1 large onion, peeled and chopped
350 g sardine (in tomato sauce, drained)
salt and pepper to taste
1 tablespoon of lime juice

1 egg, lightly beaten
2 cups breadcrumbs
Oil for deep-frying

Method:
1)  Boil potatoes. Peel skin off and mash. Heat 1 tablespoon oil, stir-fry onion until fragrant, then add sardines.  Mix in mashed potatoes.  Add salt and pepper to taste. Remove from heat. Allow to cool slightly.

2)  Add lime juice to the sardine mixture. Shape the sardine mixture into oval or round shapes.

3)  Coat with egg, then breadcrumbs.  Place on a tray and chill in the fridge for at least 30 minutes.

4)  Heat oil in a pan or wok until hot. Deep-fry croquetts until golden brown and crispy.  Drain, and serve with your desired sauce.

Provencal Beef Stew

Attracted by the colour of its beautiful picture in the recently acquired recipe book, I decided to cook it since it also looked easy to make. It is my first attempt of a French dish. 

Well, its taste is unique and a bit of sourish, and the hint of the orange zest gives out another fruity taste. As I used shallots instead of onion (only found out that I ran out of onion during preparation), this might affect the final result. Looks like i have to give it another try.  

Recipe: Serves 4

Ingredients: 

3 tbsp olive oil

115 g thick-cut bacon, diced

900 g stewing stewing steak cut into 4 cm pieces

1 large onion, chopped

2 carrots, sliced

2 ripe tomatoes, peeled,seeded and chopped

2 tsp tomato puree (paste)

2 garlic cloves, very finely chopped

250 ml/1 cup fruity red wine

150 ml beef stock ( I used 1 beef stock cube + 150 ml water)

1 bouquet garni (thyme/parsley/bay leaf etc) (I used 2 pieces dried bay leaves)

1 small onion, studded with 2 cloves

grated zest and juice of 1/2 unwaxed orange

1 tablespoon chopped fresh parsley

salt and ground black pepper

Method:

1)   Heat 1 tablespoon of the oil in a large heavy frying pan, then add the bacon stir-fry until browned and the fat is rendered.

2)  Working in batches, add the beef  to the pan in a single layer, pan-fry (do not over crowded the pan,  or the meat will stew in its own juices and not brown) until all sides are browned, about 6 - 8 minutes. Transfer the beef to the ceramic cooking pot and continue browning the rest of the meat in the same way, adding more oil when needed.

3)  Pour the wine and stock over the beef in the ceramic cooking pot, then add the bouquet garni and the onion.  

4)  Add the remaining oil and the onion to the frying pan and cook gently for 5 minutes, until softened.  Stir in the tomatoes, tomato puree and garlic, then transfer to the ceramic cooking pot.

5)  Cover with the lid and switch the slow cooker to low.  Cook for 5 -7 hours, or until the beef and vegetables are very tender.  Uncover and skim off any fat.  Season, discard the bouquet garni and clove-studded onion, and stir in the orange zest and juice and the parsley.