Lemon Butter Cake

Yesterday I baked this Lemon Butter cake which I have long time did not bake this cake. Also I have few lemons sitting in the fridge which I bought quite cheap from Tesco (RM 0.50/pc) the other day. This lemon butter cake definitely better than those lemon chiffon and passion fruit chiffon which I baked earlier.

Lemon Butter Cake
*make 1 loaf tin
(printable recipe)

Ingredients
125g butter (I use 100g butter and 25g margarine)
100g sugar
1 lemon, finely grate the rind
2 large eggs
175g self-raising flour
4tbsp milk

Lemon glaze
3 tbsp sugar
1 lemon, extract juice
1 lemon, finely grate the rind

1. Beat the butter with the sugar until fluffy.
2. Add in the eggs one by one, then add in lemon rind, mixing well.
3. Fold in the flour and milk, combine well.
4. Pour the mixture into a loaf tin lined with greaseproof paper.
5. Bake in pre-heated oven at 180C for 40mins.
6. Mix sugar and lemon juice and cook over low heat till sugar dissolved, add in lemon rind, set aside.
7. When cake done, remove cake from the oven and prick all over with a skewer.
8. Pour over the lemon glaze over the hot cake.
9. Ideally to leave cake to set overnight, to have better flavour.

Happy Baking !!!

Happy Winter Solstice/ Tang Yuan celebration !!!

I saw a lot of bloggers already posted "Tang Yuan" , why I'm late? This is because I almost forgot today is " Tang Yuan" celebration, hehehe, till my previous babysitter called me to invite my kids go to her house to celebrate "Winter Solstice", then I just realized it. So I quickly ran to supermarket to buy a packet of glutinous rice and cook the "Tang Yuan". If you do not know why Chinese celebrate the "Winter Solstice', you may refer to "Dodol & Mochi", she has a quite detail explanation.
I still prefer the simple way of "Tang Yuan", this was served when I was a child, my mum just cook this simple way, no fancy ingredients added, also partly we were poor at that time..

-Desmond help me to shape "Tang Yuan"..

Simple recipe:-

To prepare dough:-
Glutinous rice flour - 200g
Water-150ml
Sugar-1tbsp

-mix all ingredients and knead to a smooth dough. Shape into small round shape.

To prepare" Tang Yuan":-

1. Boil a pot of water, add few knotted pandan leaves and few slices of ginger, season with sugar.
2. Add in "Tong Yuan", once "Tong Yuan" float, then is ready to serve.


Happy Winter Solstice !!

Cotton Cheese Cake Specially for my daughter !!

Promised to my daughter, once she had done her UPSR exam, I will bake her favorite cheese cake. Searched in few blogs, noticed that this cotton cheese cake is the most popular cheese cake among bloggers, so I give a try.

-I use whipping cream to decorate the ugly cake surface...

-Even I use water bath to bake, the top surface still cracked, maybe my oven temp is high, next time need to adjust the temp. And I noticed use greaseproof paper to line side of the pan, the side surface not even, should I not use this paper to line the side of pan?

-Anyway, the cheese cake is very nice, soft like cotton and moist..

I adapted Ai Wei's recipe, but cut the portion to half:-

Part A:

125g Philadephia Cream Cheese

25g Butter

50ml Fresh Milk

Part B:

30g Cake flour

10g Corn flour

Part C:-

4 Egg Yolks (I use medium size)

1 tbsp Lemon Juice

¼ tsp Salt

Part D:

4 Egg Whites (I use medium size)

10g corn flour (change from cream of tartar)

70g Caster Sugar

1. Melt (A) in double boiler and cool the mixture until room temperature.

2. Whisk egg yolk until creamy, add in lemon juice and salt, fold in (B) and mix well.

3. Whisk egg whites until foamy and then add in sugar and corn flour, whisk until soft peaks form.

4.Fold in egg whites mixture into the egg yolk mixture and mix well. Then add in the other half and mix them evenly.

5.Pour the mixture in round cake pan (lightly grease and line the bottom and side of the pan with greaseproof paper).--Updated on 16th Sept, do not line the side of the pan with paper

6. Bake in water bath for 1 hour 10 minutes or until set or golden brown at 160 °C.

Do Enjoy Baking !!!

Stir fried Tofu with leek

Since tasted this tofu in Penang, we just love this dish very much. A simple and delicious tofu dish that you can easily cook it at home.

Simple recipe to share:-
Soft tofu ( cut into square shape)
Leek
Carrot
Garlic
Prawn
Meat (pork or chicken)
Seasoning- salt, light soy sauce, oyster sauce
Steps:-
1. Deep fry the tofu and set aside
2. Heat oil in a wok, saute garlic, add in prawn and meat, stir fry for a while, then add in leek.
3. Add some water, then add in deep fried tofu. Add in seasoning and simmer for 10mins.
4. Add in cornstarch water to thicken the gravy.
5. Dish out and serve hot.
Do enjoy cooking !!!!

3K Steamed bun ( Ki Ka Ku) _with recipe

I'm so happy to see the result of my 1st attempted (again 1st time !!!) of making steamed bun, I just learnt this recipe over the tele-conversation with my mum yesterday. Today I immediately give it a try. I don't know the exact name in English, so I just give a name as 3K bun, because in Hokkian name as " Ki Ka Ku" . This is 100% pure pandan flavour, no added any artificial colouring..another healthy bun..

-Before steam, bun with filling, black sesame (one red dot) and lotus paste (3 red dots)

-Before steam, plain one, just add pandan juice, very nice pure green colour. My kids love this plain type very much.

- After steamed

- Do you want to have a bite? The texture is soft and QQ..

3K steamed bun (Ki Ka Ku)- Plain type

** can make about 30pcs

Glutinous rice flour 250g
All purpose flour 300g
Caster sugar 150g (you may increase, if you want sweeter)
Cooking oil 100g
Yeast 1 ½ tsp
Pandan water (screwpine leaf) 120g – (Blend 15pcs of pandan leaves + 7-8tbsp of water)
Water 120g (adjust if necessary)

Banana leaves (cut into equal square shapes)

Steps:-
Mix all ingredients in a mixing bowl, knead until smooth (something like pao dough, softer than pao dough)

Divide dough to equal portion (about 40g), shape into small round ball. Grease your hand with some cooking oil, place small round ball on the banana leaf, and flatten the dough by pressing your palm on the round ball.

Keep aside and rest for 1hour.

Steam on hot water for 15mins or until cooked.

Do enjoy making kuih-muih !!!

Penang Hokkian Mee/Prawn Mee, simply delicious !!

When we were in Penang, my kids keep ordering prawn mee, they just love this noodle. So I tried to cook at it home too, since I use all fresh ingredients, the soup base is super sweet and the best thing is we can add as many as topping that we like, like example Jeslyn love to eat bean sprout, so she added big sum of bean sprout in her bowl....

Simple recipe to share:-

Ingredients

For the stock:
500g spareribs (pai kuat) , 2.5-3 lt of water

Seasoning: salt ,rock sugar

500g fresh medium size of prawn, shelled

200g lean pork

Blanch:-
fresh yellow noodles

rice vermicelli

bean sprouts

water spinach(Kangkung)

hard-boiled eggs, shelled and cut half or quartered

Some shallot crisps

Sambal:-
2 tbsp chili paste (cili Boh) , i use homemade chili paste
Blend -1 onion, 6 shallots,3 cloves of garlic and 1" young ginger
Dried prawn, soaked and pounded
Belacan 1tsp

Steps:-

1. Heat oil in a wok, stir fry the prawn head and shells until change colour.
2. Put spareribs and water into a deep stockpot, bring to a boil , add in the prawn head and shells, simmer the stock for 1.5-2 hours, season with rock sugar and salt.
3. Halfway through, add lean pork and cooked through. Remove and slice the meat thinly, then set aside.
4. Heat oil in a wok, saute onion paste, add in chili paste, then add in dried prawn and belacan, saute till fragrant, season with sugar and salt, remove and set aside. In the same wok (use the remaining chili oil), stir fry the prawn, season with salt, and set aside.
5. Once stock done, strain the stock, add in the sambal paste.
6. To serve, place noodles into soup bowl, top up with main prawn stock and garnish with bean sprouts, water spinach (kangkung), hard-boiled eggs, pork slices and shallot crisps

Do enjoy cooking noodle soup !!!

Oyster Sauce Chicken Wings

For those who like to eat chicken wings, this is a very simple and delicious dish that you should try out.









-Deep fried the chicken wings (marinate with oyster sauce, light soy sance, pepper, dark soy sauce for colouring).

Simple steps to share:-

1. Saute ginger, garlic and spring onion.

2. Add in the fried chicken wings and water.

3. Season with oyster sauce, light soy sauce, salt, sugar and Chinese wine.

4. Simmer for about 30mins.

Stir-fried Lemongrass Tilapia fish

Never cook river fish before, and this was my 1st time ( sorry ya, it seemed I have so many 1st time dish, hehehe). This Tilapia fish was given by my elder sister who bought this fish from her husband's hometown (Ulu Yam), you can find big and fresh river fish here. Since the lemongrass in my garden has grown so many, so I use lemongrass to cook this Tilapia fish as to get rid of fishy smell..

Simple recipe to share

1 Tilapia fish (cut out fish meat, marinate with chopped lemongrass, tumeric powder, salt, light soy sauce, sugar)

5-6 stalks of lemongrass, crushed

spring onion, cut into long strips

fresh red chili, shredded

ginger (little), chopped finely

garlic (more), cut slices

Seasoning- salt, fish sauce, lime juices

Steps:-

1. Deep fry the marinated Tilapia fish meat and set aside.

2. Heat oil in a wok, saute garlic slices till golden brown and set aside.

3. Use the remaining oil, saute ginger, add in lemongrass, spring onion and red chili.

4. Add in the fried fish and fried garlic slices, tasted with salt and fish sauce, add few drops of lime juices, quickly mix well and dish out.

5. Serve hot

Do enjoy cooking !!!

Teochew-Style Spiced Duck Rice

This was my 1st time to braise a duck, and I did not cook the Hokkian way which my mum use to cook, instead I tried Teochew-style, I prefer the Teochew style than the Hokkian style. So I just cooked this duck and prepared some mixed local salads, this was a simple dinner in a lazy Sunday.

- I think I have bought a wrong type of duck (they called as white duck), it can not stand for long hour cooking, broken down when I cut it....

My daughter and hubby said this was a best duck rice they have ever had..so you can imagine how nice this duck rice, hehehe..
Simple recipe to share:-
1 duck, about 2kg
Spices:-
-1 stick cinnamon
-5 stick of "gan cao"
-3 pcs of dried tangerine peel
-5 pcs of star anise
-4 pcs of cloves
-some peppercorns
5-6 slices of galangal (nan jiang or lengkuas) ** This must have, remember...
Five spice powder
Enough water to cover whole duck
Seasoning:-
Chinese wine
Light soy sauce
Dark soy sauce (for colour)
salt
White sugar
Rock sugar
Steps:-
1. Boil water in a wok and add few slices of galangal, lower the duck into the hot water to wash it briefly, remove duck to a colander to drain. Rub five spice powder on whole body of duck and set aside.
2. Heat oil in a wok, add white sugar and rock sugar to melt them until it caramelises. Add in galangal slices, bring enough water in the wok.
3. Place all the spices in a cotton pouch, and put this cotton pouch in the wok, once the water boiled, add in the duck. Add in seasoning and simmer for about 2 hours, turning the duck every 30mins.
4. Turn off the fire and leave the duck to immerse in the sauce for another hour.
5. To serve, cut the duck into pieces and garnish with Chinese parsley and local salad (marinate carrot, white carrot and cucumer with salt, sugar and vinegar). Serve with white rice and garlic chili sauce (bottled garlic chili sauce, chopped garlic, fish sauce, vinegar and sugar)

Do enjoy Cooking !!!

Rolled bread of bacon, hard boiled egg, cheese and herbs

Saw this bread from the "The naked chef" Jamie Oliver show, since it is so simple to bake, I give it a try in one of the "Bento" day for Lucas...

-Shape bread dough into long rectangle, along the middle of the bread, lay out the bacon, hard boiled eggs, shredded cheese, basil and olive oil.

-Pull the dough over the filling so it forms what looks like a cannelloni shape. And bring one end round to the other so that they join up. Pinch and pat the two ends together firmly to form a doughnut-shaped loaf. Drizzle with olive oil and rosemary herbs..

- Bake at pre-heat oven at 180c for 30mins or until golden brown.

Basic bread dough recipe:-

300g bread flour
10g sugar
1/2tsp salt
1stp yeast
170g water
10g extra virgin olive oil

- knead and proof for 60mins

Tomato Pork Ribs Noodle Soup

The other day saw this noodle soup from one of the TV show, as usual, use my six sense, I tried to cook this same Tomato Pork Ribs noodle soup, and using the Pho which I brought back from HCM.



-Prepare superior stock ( carrot, corn, cabbage, chicken bones)


-Braised Tomato Pork Ribs

- Place noodle in a bowl, pour in the superior stock and topped with braised Tomato Pork ribs (add some gravy as well), garnished with spring onion or any vegetables..

- Tasted sweet and little sour

**All family members enjoyed this noodle soup except my husband who said tomato pork ribs still best to eat together with rice, "alamak" and as usual, he seldom accept new taste...

Black soy bean milk, and like the pale green color

I like to use black soy bean to prepare soy bean milk drink, because black beans are a wonderful source of dietary fiber and are rich in antioxidants as well. Furthermore, I like the pale-green color..

- I can't captured the nice pale-green color using my camera.... also because it changed a bit to milk color after cooked.

-Remove the black bean skin and you will see very nice pale green beans

- Blend the beans, you will get very nice pale green soy milk

Simple recipe to share

Ingredients

• 400g black soy bean (soaked overnight)
• a couple of pandan leaves
• 2.5 litres of water
• Sugar to taste

Steps:-

1.Soak the black soy beans overnight in cold water. Drain and then rinse the beans well. Remove the black skin.

2. Place pale green bean in a blender. Add some water to cover the beans before blending them finely.

3. Pour blended bean into a large bowl or pot and add remaining water. Strain / Sieve the contents through a fine cloth.

4. Place sieved bean milk into a pot, add the pandan leaves and bring to boil very slowly. Ensure that you stir the milk regularly to prevent burning. Turn off the heat immediately upon boiling and allow to cool.

5. You can either choose to add the sugar whilst bringing the black soy bean to boil or prepare syrup (usually I will add few slices of ginger-remove wind) separately and add the syrup prior to drinking.

Tuna Rice

When I feel lazy to cook or husband not at home, I will just cook one meal dish e.g fried rice, savory rice & etc . This tuna rice is just so simple to cook..check it out..


Simple recipe to share:-

1) Wash rice clean, add water and place in rice cooker.
2) Heat olive oil in a wok, saute garlic and ginger (finely chopped), add in chopped onion, cabbages and mixed vege, mix well. Then add in Tuna chunks (type-canned tuna in water ), season with pepper and salt, cook for 1-2 minutes.
3) Add item (2) into rice cooker, add salt, on the rice cooker and cook.
4) Top with Furikake and seaweed, serve hot.

Various kind of buns

All these various kind of buns were done 2 days in a row, if I will buy all these buns from outside bakery shops, it will cost me much much more. It is nice to enjoy homemade buns, cheap and healthy. Recently I just got a food processor, so making bread dough is so much easy now, this is one of the reason why I so hardworking making breads...

-Hot from the oven (Day1)

-Hot from the oven (Day 2)

-Type 1( topped with cheddar cheese and roll with hot dog)

-Type 2 (put bread dough in tart cup, top with fresh parsley and cheddar cheese)

- Type 3 ( roll dough around the hot dog, cut the roll and twist it)

-Type 4 ( topped with Chicken floss)

-Type 5 ( normal hot dog roll )

-Type 6 (mini hot dog roll, specially made for Desmond who always can't finished normal hot dog roll)

-Type 7 ( roll dough around the hot dog, cut both sides and bring to center)

-Type 8 (topped with hot dog, mayo, mix vege)

-Anyone want some buns?

** I use basic sweet bread dough to make above buns...