Moist Cream Cheese Loaf

 

Ingredients:

75 g. unsalted butter (room temperature)

75 g. cream cheese (room temperature)

90 g. castor sugar 

3 eggs (lightly beaten)

1 tsp. vanilla or 2 tbsp. lemon juice for a tangy taste (I use vanilla)

120 g. plain flour (sifted)

1 tsp. baking powder (sifted)

1/2 tsp. salt

Methods:

1. Add butter and cream cheese in a mixer bowl and mix until light and fluffy.
2. Add in sugar and continue to mix until batter is light and fluffy.
3. Add beaten eggs, in 7 addition.  Mix well after each addition.  Then add vanilla or lemon juice, and give it a mix.
4. Sift together flour, baking powder and salt into a bowl.  Add to the mixture in (3) and mix just until combined.
5. Pour the batter into a greased loaf pan.  Tap to release excess bubbles.  Spread the top of the batter with a spatula.
6. Bake in a preheated oven of 160 degree Celsius for 45 minutes or until a skewer inserted in the middle of the cake comes out clean.
7. Remove from oven and let it cool down completely.
8. Serve and enjoy!

I adapted this recipe from 'Savor Easy' with a slight adjustment to suit my baking preference.

Shaoxing Drunken Chicken

Ingredients:

3 chicken thighs (deboned, skin-on) - trim off fat

1/4 tsp. salt (for each thigh)

1 tsp. Shaoxing wine (for each thigh)

Sauce:

2 cups chicken stock (from step.2)

1/2 cup Shaoxing wine

2 tbsp. goji berries

1 tsp. salt

1/2 tsp. sugar

Methods:

1. To prepare the chicken; sprinkle with salt and lay it on a sheet of aluminium foil.  Add 1 teaspoon of wine and wrap the chicken into foil packets so that the juice from the chicken will remain inside after cooking.
2. In a pot, heat just enough water to cover the chicken rolls. Do not allow the water to boil rapidly.  Cook on low heat for about 20 minutes, then turn off the heat and let the meat sit in the chicken soup stock for about 5 minutes.  Remove them and submerge them in freezing water.  This allows the chicken rolls to cool down so that the water will not evaporate with the steam which will keep the meat tender and fresh.
3. To make the sauce, combine the wine with up to 2 cups of chicken soup stock from Step 2.  Add the goji berries, salt and sugar.  The soup should be brought to a boil.  Allow it to cool totally.
4. Get ready an airtight container, unwrap the chicken and put the cooled chicken inside, and add the cool sauce.  For the drunken chicken flavour to develop, cover with lid and keep in the fridge for one to two days.
5. To serve, remove the chicken from the container, slice and place it on a serving dish, drizzled with the sauce.
6. Enjoy!

This recipe is adapted from 'jessiefoodinthekitchen.blogspot.com.'

Steamed Shrimps With Glass Noodles

 

Ingredients:

8 large shrimps (peeled, leave the tail intact and deveined)

1 bundle glass noodles (soaked in hot water until softened and drained)

1 tbsp. light soy sauce

2 tbsp. cooking oil

Spring onion (green part) - thinly sliced (for garnish)

Sauce:

6 cloves garlic (peeled and finely chopped)

1 medium red chili (finely chopped)

1 tbsp. light soy sauce

1 tbsp. oyster sauce

Pinch of ground white pepper

2 tbsp. cooking oil

Methods:

1. Take some of the softened glass noodles and roll into a round shape.  Place it on a plate.  Repeat with the rest.
2. Use a knife to carefully butterfly the deveined shrimp, and slice a hole in the middle.  Insert the tail through the hole.  Repeat with the rest.
3. Place the shrimps on top of the glass noodles.  Set aside.
4. To make the sauce, in a bowl, add garlic, chili, soy sauce, oyster sauce and white pepper.
5. In a small pan over high heat, add the cooking oil.  Heat it up until smoking hot.
6. Pour the hot oil over the sauce. (The sauce will be more aromatic this way).
7. To prepare for steaming; use a spoon to scoop the sauce evenly over the shrimps and glass noodles.
8. Place into a steamer to steam over high heat for about 3 minutes until the shrimps turns pink.
9. Carefully remove.  Garnish with spring onion over the top.
10. Serve immediately.

Top view, before Steaming

I adapted this recipe from 'cicili.tv.'

Sweet Potatoes, Sweet Potato Leaves and Prawns In Coconut Milk

This deliciously-spicy dish, commonly known as Masak Lemak in Malay, is popular to most Malaysians, if not all.

Ingredients:

Sweet potato leaves (pluck out the good leaves, washed and drained)

1-2 pieces orange sweet potato (peeled and cut into bite-sized pieces, steamed and set aside)

8-10 pieces of prawns (remove shells with tail intact and deveined - you can use whole prawns with head)

1/2 bowl water (add more if needed)

Coconut milk (amount depending on your preference)

Ingredients to blend/pound:

1/2 tbsp. shrimp paste/belacan

1/2 tbsp. ground tumeric

4 pcs. shallots (peeled and roughly cut)

3 cloves garlic (peeled and roughly cut)

3 chili padi (remove some of the seeds)

1/2 tbsp. dried prawns (washed, soaked and drained)

Seasoning:

1/2 tsp. chicken stock granules - to taste

1/2 tsp. sugar

1 tsp. fish sauce

Methods:

1. In a heated wok, add 2 tablespoons of cooking oil, saute the pounded ingredients till fragrant.
2. Add in steamed sweet potato, stir for a minute.  Add in prawns, lightly stir, then add in water, seasoning and potato leaves, and stir to mix.
3. Once it comes to a boil, taste for correct seasoning.  Add in coconut milk and stir to mix.  Switch off the heat once it comes to another boil.  
4. Do not close the lid so that the potato leaves will continue to stay green.
5. Dish into a large bowl.
6. Enjoy with freshly cooked white rice.

This recipe is adapted from 'Mom's Cuisine' with some adjustments to suit my cooking preference.

Osmanthus Eggs With Glass Noodles

 

Ingredients:

1 bundle glass noodles (soaked in hot water, drained)

3 eggs (lightly beaten with a pinch of salt and ground white pepper)

3 imitation crab sticks (sliced, pull into strips)

3 dried shiitake mushrooms (soaked and thinly sliced)

Carrot, half (peeled and shredded)

Spring Onion (shredded)

Cooking oil

Seasoning:

1 teaspoon light soy sauce

A pinch of ground white pepper

A pinch of chicken stock granules

1 tablespoon Shaoxing wine

Methods:

1. In a heated wok, add 2 tablespoons of cooking oil, add shiitake mushrooms, give it a stir. Then add in the carrot and imitation crab strips and continue to stir fry. Next, add in the spring onion, after a few quick stir, add in the glass noodles, and continue to stir fry for 2 minutes.  Dish onto a plate and set aside.
2. In the same heated wok, add another 2 tablespoons of cooking oil. Add eggs and fry over medium heat, using the spatula to disperse the eggs into smaller pieces and cooked.  Add the fried glass noodles back into the wok, stir to mix; then add in light soy sauce, white pepper and chicken stock granules, continue to stir-fry until well combined.  Finally, drizzle in the Shaoxing wine, stir-fry to mix evenly.  Turn off heat.  Dish into a rice bowl, use spatula to press over the top, and place a serving dish over the top of the bowl, turn it over and it's ready to serve, with some vegetable over the side.

This recipe is adapted from 'Shadajie Kitchen' with a slight adjustment to suit my cooking preference.

Chocolate Marble Cupcakes

 

Ingredients:

1 1/4 cup plain flour (sifted)

120 g. unsalted butter (softened)

3 medium size eggs

1/3 cup castor sugar (add up to 1/2 cup if you prefers sweeter)

1 tsp. vanilla extract

1 1/2 tsp. baking powder (sifted)

1/4 tsp. salt

100 g. semisweet chocolate/chocolate chips

2 tbsp. extra melted unsalted butter

3 tbsp. unsweetened cocoa powder

100 g. chocolate chips

Methods:

1. Add semisweet chocolate/chocolate chips and 2 tbsp of melted butter to a saucepan over medium-low heat.  Melt the chocolate and butter together, stirring frequently until smooth and completely melted.  Remove from heat and let it cool.
2. In a mixing bowl, combine flour, baking powder and salt.  Stir and set aside.
3. In a mixer bowl, beat butter and sugar until smooth and creamy.  Beat in eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition.  Beat in the vanilla extract.  Add the flour mixture  and continue beating until well combined.
4. Remove half of the batter into another bowl.  Add the cocoa powder, stir in melted chocolate, and add the chocolate chips and mix until well incorporated.
5. Using a spoon divide the batter into prepared cupcakes cup (1 tbsp. of both batter).  Using toothpick, gently draw swirls through the batter to get the marble effect on the cupcakes.
6. Bake in a preheated oven of 175 degree Celsius for about 18-25 minutes until a skewer inserted in the center comes out clean.  Remove from oven and let it cool completely before serving.

This recipe was adapted from 'tasty.makingourlifematter.com' with a slight adjustment to suit my baking preference.

Soft and Fluffy Milk Bread

With a box of Whipping Cream sitting in my fridge for quite a while, and so happen I came across this bread recipe, so I decided to go for it.  This recipe uses 540 gram of bread flour and 60 gram of cake flour (which I replace it with multi purpose flour/plain flour), thus the outcome is a loaf of beautiful bread and 9 beautiful buns.

These bread and buns are so soft and fluffy.  Since I eat the buns first, so I wrap the loaf and place in the fridge for 3 days, and they still taste as good.  Just slice and toast it in a toaster and spread with butter and kaya/jam, it makes a great breakfast.

To obtain the full recipe, click this link.

Let's have breakfast...

I adapted this recipe from 'Kitchen Cookbook.'

Asian Cucumber Salad

Ingredients:

1 Japanese cucumber

1/2 tsp. salt (I use French Sea Salt, less salty) - to taste

2 cloves garlic (peeled and minced)

1 tsp. rice vinegar (can use apple cider vinegar)

1 1/2 tbsp. sugar

1 tsp. Korean chili powder (can replace with regular chili powder)

1 tsp. chili oil

1/2 tsp. sesame oil

Toasted sesame seeds, for garnishing

Methods:

1. Rinse the cucumber thoroughly, slice it into pieces and place it in a bowl.  Add the salt to the cucumber, stir gently to combine well.  Chill in the refrigerator for 15 minutes.
2. Combine the garlic, vinegar, sugar, chili powder, chili oil, and sesame oil in a small bowl.  Make sure that the sugar is completely dissolved.
3. Drain the salt water from the cucumber.  Add the dressing to the cucumber, and toss well.  
4. Dish it onto a serving plate.  Top with sesame seeds and serve immediately.

I adapted this recipe from 'rasamalaysia.com' with a slight adjustment to suit my cooking preference.

Thai Tumeric Chicken (Gai Yang Khamin)

 

Ingredients:

4 large chicken thighs (skin-on and bone-in)

Marinade:

3 garlic cloves (peeled and minced)

2 tbsp. fish sauce

2 tbsp. oyster sauce

1 tsp. white ground pepper

3/4 tbsp. ground tumeric

3 tbsp. brown sugar

Methods:

1. Mix marinade ingredients in a large bowl.  Add chicken and toss to coat.  Marinate for at least 3 hours, preferably overnight.  I marinate mine overnight in a zip-lock bag.  I squish the bag few times throughout the time of marination to ensure even marination.
2. Take out the chicken from the fridge and leave at room temperature for half an hour before baking.
3. Place chicken on a baking pan, skin side up.  Scrap all marinade and dab onto chicken.  Set aside the extra juices.
4. Bake in a Convection Oven of 180 degree Celsius for 20 minutes, turn over the other side.  Baste with the marination juice and continue to bake for another 15 minutes.  Turn over the  chicken again, and increase the oven temperature to 200 degree Celsius to caramelise the skin. and bake for another 2-3 minutes until golden brown.
5. Remove from oven onto a serving plate, and let it rest for 3 minutes before serving.

This recipe is adapted from 'recipetineats' with a slight adjustment to suit my cooking preference.