BBQ Chicken Drumsticks

I love trying out various marinating recipes to enjoy the different taste and flavors, other than the ones from my home kitchen.  I came across this BBQ Chicken Wings recipe by "The Fussy Palate" but I am using chicken drumsticks and instead of barbecuing it I just make use of my Aspen Convention Oven to bake.  The outcome is superb and would love to use this recipe for our future home BBQ.

Ingredients:
4 chicken drumsticks
1 tsp shaoxing wine
1 tsp sesame oil
1 tbsp light soya sauce
1 tbsp dark soya sauce
2 tbsp oyster sauce
2 tbsp honey
Salt and pepper (to taste)

Methods:

1. Combine all the marinade ingredients in a bowl.
2. Pour the ingredients over the chicken drumsticks in a zip-lock bag, squeeze out all the air and massage the marinade into the chicken drumsticks.
3. Marinate overnight, and flip around the chicken drumsticks once or twice before baking.
4. Arrange the drumsticks on a wire rack, brush with a little oil and bake in an Aspen Convention Oven of 230 degree Celsius until golden brown on the top, turn over, brush a little oil and continue to bake until both sides have attain the same golden brown colour.
5. Off the heat, dish out from the oven and arrange on a serving plate.

My Mother-In-Law Madeira's Cake (Nigella Lawson)

I have attempted this Madeira Cake couple of times with the recipes adapted from different sources and I seem to be addicted to this soft, light and moist yummylicious cake with lemony flavors and sugary-crunchy top.

Ingredients:

70g unsalted butter (softened)

70g caster sugar (extra for sprinkling)

grated zest of one lemon

20ml lemon juice

1 large egg

70g self-raising flour (sifted)

30g plain flour (sifted)

Methods:

1. Beat butter and sugar using medium speed until light.
2. Add in lemon zest and continue to beat for about 1/2 minute.
3. Add in egg and beat using low speed until combined.
4. Then slowly add in the flour, alternately with the lemon juice and stir to combine. I mix in the flour and lemon juice in 3 folds.
5. Fold the mixture into a lightly greased loaf tin/aluminium foil of  8 x 17cm.  As the cake batter is quite thick, use a spatula to spread it evenly over the loaf tin.
6. Sprinkle some caster sugar over the top.
7. Bake in a preheated oven of 170 degree Celsius for about 30 minutes or until a wooden skewer inserted comes out clean.
8. Cool in pan before further cooling on a wire rack.
9. Let's enjoy tea....

This recipe is adapted from Rumbling Tummy.

Pineapple Chicken

This Pineapple Chicken dish came to my mind after letting my thoughts go floating, as I was thinking of what chicken dish to cook for dinner last night. Bought a peeled pineapple in the morning with the intention of making Popsicle to quench my thirst on such hot weather off late.  As this is not a planned dish, with not many ingredients at hand, so I intend to cook a simple dish out of pineapple and chicken.  Let the cooking begins....

Ingredients: (Serves 2)

2 chicken thighs (clean and cut into 4 chunks for each thigh)

1 slice pineapple (cubed)

1/2 onion (peeled and cut into chunks)

Cornflour for coating chicken

Cooking oil (for deep frying)

Marinade:

1/2 tsp salt

1/2 tsp sugar

1/2 egg

1 tsp curry powder (watch brand)

1/2 tbsp cornflour

Sauce: (mix all together into a bowl)

1 tbsp Thai chili sauce

1 tbsp tomato sauce

1 tbsp chili sauce

Dash of white vinegar

1/2 tbsp sugar (to taste)

Dash of salt (to taste)

Methods:

1. Combine the marinade ingredients with the chicken and let it marinate for at least an hour.
2. In a deep heated wok add enough cooking oil.  Coat the chicken pieces with cornflour and deep-fry until golden brown.  Dish, drain and put aside for later use.
3. Discard oil from the wok leaving 1 tbsp, add the onions, pineapple and give it a quick stir-fry.
4. Pour in the sauce and cook until almost thick.
5. Add in the fried chicken pieces, stir well to combine and dish up.
6. Dinner is served!

Mee Goreng Mamak

Ingredients:
1 pkt yellow noodles (without alkaline)
1 bowl beansprouts
2 tomato (quartered)
Some slices of fish cake
Prawns (peeled with tail intact and deveined)
1 small bean curd (cut into small pieces, pre-panfried with some oil, dish and put aside)
2 tbsp minced pork
1 potato (boiled, peeled and cut into cubes)
2 birds eye chili (cut coarsely)
2 eggs (lightly beaten)
1/2 onion (sliced)
1 medium shallot (peeled and minced)
4 shallots (peeled and minced)
1 tsp curry powder (watch brand - not in picture)
3 tbsp cooking oil (not in picture)
1/4 cup water (if necessary)

Sauce:
3 tbsp tomato ketchup
3 tbsp chili sauce
1 tbsp dark soya sauce
1 tbsp light soy sauce

Seasonings:
Salt (to taste)
Dash of sugar (to taste)

Methods:

1. In a clean heated wok, add cooking oil, saute onion, minced shallot and garlic until fragrant
2. Add in curry powder, give it a quick stir, then the minced pork and stir fry for 1 to 2 minutes.
3. Add the bean-curd, fish cake and potato cubes and stir to mix all the ingredients.
4. Put in the yellow noodles, stir to combine, but if the noodles are too dry add about 1/4 cup of water and continue to stir.
5. Add the tomato slices, prawns, all the sauce ingredients including chili padi and stir-fry until well combined for about 2 to 3 minutes, making sure that the yellow noodles are cooked through.
6. Add in the beaten egg, salt and sugar (to taste), followed by bean sprouts.  Stir-fry until the beaten egg dries up.
7. Off the heat and dish onto a big dish.

For individual servings, place the noodles into a serving plate with some garnish of your choice.  Enjoy!

Recipe adapted from Sifu Kenneth Goh of Food Bloggers and Foodies United.

Light Fruit Loaf Cake

As Fruit Cake is my grandson's favourite, I bake one for me to bring along during my recent visit to another town for him to enjoy. After coming back from my trip, I decided to make myself this light fruit cake as there are some leftover green and red cherries from my previous baked.

I came across this simple recipe "Tutti Fruity Loaf Cake" from Evergreen Recipes Blog, and I change the name to Light Fruit Cake as I am not using the Tutti Fruity cherries and it only needs 2 tablespoons of cherries in the baking.  It suits me well as I prefer light fruit and the cake is moist and light.  I adapted this recipe with some amendments.

Ingredients:
1 1/2 cup flour
2 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp bicarbonate of soda
2 eggs
1/2 cup butter (room temperature)
3/4 cup milk
3/4 cup castor sugar
2 tbsp green and red cherries (chopped)

Methods:

1. Sieve flour, baking powder and bicarbonate of soda into a bowl.  Mix well.
2. Combine egg, butter and sugar in a stand mixer bowl, beat using low speed until sugar dissolves and mixture is frothy.
3. Add milk and mix well with a spatula.
4. Add the flour mixture in two folds into the egg-sugar mixture and mix it well.
5. Add cherries and mix again.
6. Grease a loaf tin with butter and dust some flour.
7. Pour the cake mixture into the loaf tin and bake in preheated oven of 170 degree Celsius for about 35 to 40 minutes or a wooden skewer inserted comes out clean.
8. Cool at room temperature.
9. Slice and tea is served!

Fruit and Vegetable Juices

When the weather is hot and humid, a glass of fresh fruit and vegetable juice is a good option to quench our thirst, cool down our body temperature, and each and every sips are full of health benefits.

Here are 4 of my favourite juices to share....

• Red apple and guava juice

• Apple, cucumber and beetroot juice

• Green apple, cucumber, celery, bittergourd and lemon juice

• Papaya, carrot and mandarin orange juice

For information, all these juices are natural and I did not add any sugar or honey to it. If you are a juice lover do try out these simple juice to enjoy.

Cellophane Noddles Soup

Cellophane noodles makes easy 'quick-fix' soup if and when we are cooking something simple for our self.  It is as simple as 'grab' whatever available ingredients that are in our kitchen storage, put them all together and there goes a healthy bowl of nutritious soup. We can also serve this as soup for the whole family on our dining table just by increasing the amount of each ingredients.  

Let me share this simple nutritious soup which never fails to satisfy me....

Ingredients: (1 serving only)
1 bundle cellophane noddles (soaked and drain)
2 leaves cabbage (washed and cut into preferred bite-size pieces)
3 black dried fungus, soft type (soaked, trim off the hard core and tear into pieces)
handful of broccoli (washed and trim into florets)
few button mushrooms (halved)
1 piece fish maw (soaked, drain and cut into pieces)
1 small shallot (peeled and sliced)
1 garlic (peeled and chopped)
1 tbsp cooking oil
1 bowl water

Seasonings:
Dash of salt (to taste)
Chicken stock granules (to taste)

Topping:
Fried shallot and garlic (for the recipe click here)

Few simple steps:

1. In a medium heated wok add cooking oil, saute sliced shallots and chopped garlic until lightly brown and fragrant.
2. Add in water and as the water comes to a boil add in fish maw, dried fungus, broccoli,  cabbage, and follow by button mushrooms. 
3. Add in the seasonings, stir to mix and taste for correct seasoning of your preference.
4. Finally, add in the cellophane noodles, give it a stir and once the noodles is soft, off the heat and pour into a serving bowl.
5. Top with fried shallot and garlic and serve.

Notes:  I did not put any meat in this bowl of cellophane noddles soup, as once a while I prefer to go without meat.  It is our own choice to put whatever available ingredients into this simple soup.  It can either be serve with rice or have it as it is.  

Apple Crumble

This morning, as I was flipping through an old recipe book given by a friend few days ago, I came across this Apple Crumble recipe.  Not only is the recipe simple but also the portion suits me well and after running through the ingredients, I happen to have all the needed ingredients. So, why wait!  Let's bake it for my lunch...

Ingredients:

1 green apple (peeled, cored and cut into bite-size pieces)

2 tsp granulated sugar

pinch of ground cinnamon

1/4 cup water

Crumble:

1 1/2 tbsp plain flour

3 tsp rolled oats

1 tbsp soft brown sugar

pinch of ground nutmeg

15 g butter

Methods:

1. Place the green apple, granulated sugar, ground cinnamon and water in a small wok and bring to a boil, then reduce heat to low and simmer until the apple is tender.
2. Remove from heat, drain and mash with a manual Kitchenaid Mixer to give a chunky mixture.  Spoon onto a prepared dish.
3. To make the crumble, place the flour, oats, brown sugar and nutmeg in a bowl and mix well.  Rub in the butter with your fingertips until the mixture resembles breadcrumbs.
4. Sprinkle over the apple and bake in a preheated oven of 180 degree Celsius for 15-20 minutes, or until crumble is golden and crunchy.
5. Ready to serve...

I love the Crumble on the top, crunchy and soft, even after it has cooled down to room temperature.  I will try using banana to make Banana Crumble, which is my son Aaron's favourite.  

Recipe adapted from Cooking for One, Page 110.

Simple Steamboat Dinner for Two

If you are too lazy to plan for something to cook for dinner tonight, why not join me at your dining table with this simple "Steamboat Dinner for Two!"  It doesn't need too many ingredients, just include a few favourite food items with an adequate quantity and I can guarantee you that it is as satisfying as a "Candlelight Dinner!"  Lately, me and hubby have been enjoying this Steamboat Dinner for Two in the comfort of our sweet home, slowly dining while chatting and sharing our thoughts.

Steamboat Ingredients:

• Chicken thigh slices
• Pork belly slices
• Radish (sliced)
• Young corns
• Seaweed
• Deep-fried home-made fish balls, to obtain recipe click here
• Green vegetables 
• Noodles/Rice Vermicelli/Cellophane noodles 
• Crunchy Prawn Wonton, for the recipe click here

For the soup, I normally use chicken base-soup.  This is what I do:-

1. boil a pot of water,
2. pour some boiling water onto the chicken bones to blanch,
3. drain and put the bones into the boiling water to boil for about 20 minutes,  
4. dish out the bones using a slotted spatula and discard,
5. season the soup with a bit of salt and chicken stock granules to suit your taste buds, but at this juncture it is better for the soup to be slightly under-season as the natural sweetness from the meat and other ingredients will make the soup more tasty and well seasoned.
6. So, let's have DINNER....

This time round I have an additional side-dish to go along with our Steamboat - Sambal Belacan with sliced Japanese Cucumbers.  We really enjoy this "Simple Yet Yummylicious" meal...

Recipe for my Sambal Belacan can be viewed here

Crunchy Prawn Wonton

I am making this Crunchy Prawn Wonton for my Steamboat, a recipe adapted from The Informal Chef with some amendments.  To obtain the whole "Crunchy Prawn Wonton Soup" recipe click here

Ingredients:

Wonton wrappers

100 g prawns (shelled and deveined)

1/2 tbsp chopped spring onions (green part only)

1/2 tsp baking soda

Prawn marinade:

1/2 tsp salt

1/2 tsp sugar

1 tsp light soy sauce

a few drops of sesame oil

dash of grounded white pepper

1 1/2 tsp egg white

1 tsp cornflour

Methods:

1. Rub prawns with baking soda and set aside for half hour.  Rinse off with tap running water for a while, drain and cut into chunks.
2. Combine all marinade ingredients with the prawns and mix well.  Let it marinate for at least two hours in the fridge.
3. Just before wrapping, bring out the prawns from the fridge, add in the chopped spring onions and mix with a spoon to combine.
4. Wrap marinated prawns with wonton wrappers.
5. Boil wanton in a pot of boiling water for a quick 1/2 minute, dish with a slotted spatula and put aside on a plate.

Notes:  I only need to quick boil the wonton to get rid of the flour on the wrappers, so that my steamboat soup will not be starchy and secondly I still need to put them into the steamboat together with all the other ingredients.