recipe is: grilled salmon with garlic lemon mayo sauce

Ingredients

2 salmon steaks about 250gm per piece
2 tbsp garlic butter (or any herb butter of your choice), melted
salt to taste
coarse ground black pepper

3 tbsp mayonnaise
1 tbsp lemon juice
finely minced or grated clove of garlic
salt to taste
sugar to taste
dash of dill

3-4 medium sized potatoes, thoroughly scrubbed and sliced into wedges
1 tbsp garlic butter
pinch of salt
1 tbsp olive oil

1 head of broccoli, cut into florets

dab of butter/margarine or a few tablespoons of cream
dash of salt and white pepper



Method

season the salmon steaks with salt and rub the garlic butter all over to cover the steaks totally. season with black pepper. set aside

preheat the oven to 180 degrees C, preferably on grill function

parboil potatoes in lightly salted water for 5 minutes, drain and toss in garlic butter and olive oil. put in a single layer on a baking sheet/tray and sprinkle with salt and bake for 30 minutes, remove from oven, turn the potatoes over and return to oven to bake for a further 30 minutes

blanch the broccoli in water lightly seasoned with salt and sugar. drain and set aside

mix the mayo, minced garlic, lemon juice, salt, sugar and dill thoroughly and set aside

heat up grilling pan. once hot, put the salmon steaks skin side down (if your steaks have skin). let sear and cook for a couple of minutes. turn the steaks over and grill for a further 3 minutes or so

dish up the salmon steaks, turn off the flame, add a dab of butter/margarine/cream, salt and white pepper to the grilling pan stir thoroughly and pour onto blanched broccoli

serve with the garlic lemon mayo

NOTES:

salmon cooks pretty quickly, do not over cook the salmon or you'll lose the buttery creaminess of the fish. cooking times vary on the thickness of the salmon steaks.

it's better to use a non-stick grilling pan as it prevents the salmon from sticking to the pan, hence, uses lesser fat.

recipe is: souffle cheesecake

Ingredients

250 gm cream cheese at room temperature
60 ml milk
3 eggs, separated, at room temperature
120 gm caster sugar
35 gm cornflour/cornstarch
1 tbsp lemon juice
1/2 tsp cream of tartar
1/2 tsp baking powder

Method

position rack on the lower shelf of the oven. preheat oven to 175 degrees Celcius. line a 20cm round cake tin with baking paper

soften cheese with milk in a bowl. add half the sugar, mix. add the egg yolks one at a time, mix to combine. add the cornflour, mix. add the lemon juice, mix and add the cream of tartar. mix thoroughly to combine all the ingredients

put the egg whites and the baking powder in a large metal bowl and whisk until firm peaks are formed. add the remaining sugar in 3 goes and keep whisking til stiff peaks are formed

fold in half the egg white into the batter and fold to mix gently. add the other half of the egg white and fold the mixture very gently but thoroughly

pour mixture into prepared cake tin. put cake tin on a wire rack about 2 cm high in a large roasting tin. pour in boiling water til it comes to about 2 cm high up the roasting tin

bake for about 35 - 40 minutes. remove the cake from the roasting tin and bake for a further 15 mins at 170 degrees celcius

take cake out of the oven and leave it to cool in the tin


NOTES:-

if the surface of the cake becomes too brown during the baking process, loosely cover with a piece of foil.

do not open the oven for at least 25 minutes from the start of the baking process

recipe is: butter cake

i've been looking for a butter cake recipe and all those that i've tried doesn't seem to come out the way i want it, so i've experimented and tweaked around and came up with my own recipe.

Ingredients

180 gm butter, at room temperature

150 gm caster sugar

50 gm milk powder

140 gm all purpose flour

30 gm cornflour/cornstarch

1 tsp baking powder (to be sifted together with the dry ingredients)

another 1/2 tsp baking powder (to be beaten with egg white)

3 medium size eggs, separated

1 tsp vanilla essence

80 ml milk


Method

preheat oven to 180 degrees Celcius. grease a loaf cake tin with butter

sift the flour, cornflour, milk powder and the 1 tsp baking powder together in a big bowl

in a mixing bowl, beat the butter and sugar til creamy and fluffy, add in the egg yolks one at a time and mix to combine. add the vanilla essence and mix thoroughly. add the sifted dry ingredients and mix to combine thoroughly. add the milk and mix

whisk the egg white with 1/2 tsp of baking powder til soft peaks form. fold into the batter mixture and combine thoroughly

pour into loaf cake tin and bake for 45 minutes. turn the heat down to 170 degrees Celcius and bake a further 15 minutes til a toothpick poked in the middle of the cake comes out clean. cover loosely with foil if the top browns too much

take cake out of the oven and let cool completely in cake tin before slicing


NOTES:-

the milk powder could be omitted if you do not want a cake that's too 'milky' in taste. if you do that, then reduce the butter amount to 160 gm.

when whisking the egg whites, use a metal bowl for best results. make sure that the bowl is clean, dry and oil-free.

recipe is: crumbly mini tartlets

PASTRY:

Ingredients


160 gm butter
30 gm icing sugar
220 gm flour (remove 2 tbsp and replace with 2 tbsp cornfour)
1 egg yolk
1/2 tsp vanilla essence

1 egg yolk for glazing


Method

preheat oven to 180 celcius


cream butter with sugar till light and fluffy. add egg yolk and vanilla essence and mix til just combined

add in flour and mix into a dough. rest in fridge for 10 mins

on a lightly floured working surface, shape the dough to your own liking, either roll into mini balls, or using cookie cutters or rolled out to make mini tartlet rolls. if the dough is a bit hard coming out of the fridge to shape, knead it a bit to warm it up a little to make it more pliable

apply the jam filling to the tartlets. glaze with egg yolk, put on a greased/lined baking tray and bake for about 20 mins til light golden brown


FILLING:

Ingredients

4 red apples, skinned, cored and roughly grated

grated rind of 1 lemon

3 heaped tbsp of brown sugar

2 tbsp lemon juice

1/4 tsp salt

1 small stick cinnamon

2 star anise

5 cloves


Method

put all the ingredients in a saucepan or frying pan on a medium heat and fry til most of the liquid had evaporated, stirring occasionally. once most of the liquid has evaporated, turn down the flame and keep frying, stirring to keep it from burning (especially if not using a non-stick pan)

the sugars will start to caramelise and thicken further. keep stirring til almost completely dry. this will take about 1 hour, depending on how moist is the fruit to begin with


Notes:

the dough might be a little bit hard to work with as it is quite crumbly. take care not to break it during the shaping, filling or glazing processes.

other jam fillings can be used to substitute. this is normally made with pineapple jam fillings. just make sure cookie fillings are used and not normal bread jam as it is too wet for these cookies. jams with some fibre is recommended compared to pureed jams.

adjust the sugar content to suit, as some apples are sweeter than others. once almost all the liquid has evaporated during the cooking process, do a taste test and add more sugar if needed.

recipe is: mee siam ala twohands

Ingredients



to ground into a fine paste

~ 3 - 4 stalks lemongrass

~ 5 -6 shallots

~ 5 cloves of garlic

~ 2 candlenuts

~ 3 tbsp dried shrimps



300 gm mee hoon, soaked in water til soften, drain and set aside

2 tbsp chilli boh

2 tbsp tauchu paste (salted preserved soybean)

a handful of chives cut into 6cm lengths

3 handfuls of beansprouts

salt to taste

2 taukwa (very firm tofu), cut into strips and fried til golden brown

2 eggs, made into an omelette and cut into thin strips

2 - 3 limes, cut into halves and deseeded

4 - 5 tablespoons oil




Method

heat the oil in a big, deep frying pan or a wok on a medium flame and add in the grounded ingredients plus the chilli boh and tauchu. turn down the flame and slowly sautee the paste til it's aromatic, about 5 - 8 minutes, taking care to keep stirring round to keep it from burning

turn up the flame and add the mee hoon and stir fry to mix thoroughly, it helps to use a pair or tongs or chopsticks to mix. add a bit of water if the mee hoon is too dry. add salt to taste if needed

add the chives and beansprouts and stir fry to mix for another 3 -5 mins. dish up, garnish with taukwa, omelette and a squeeze of lime juice.


note:

the chilli boh can be substituted with 5 - 6 dried chillies, soaked to soften, drained and added to the ingredients to be grounded.

ingredients can be grounded in a blender or with a pestle and mortar. i initially use a blender and then pound it with the pestle and mortar to get a finer paste.

recipe is: yam cake

i got this recipe from audrey's cooking site and i tweaked it a wee bit here and there to suit my own palate. i'm sure her original recipe is just as great :-)

Ingredients

1 medium size yam, skinned, rinsed and cubed into about 1cm-sized pieces
5 shallots, skinned and thinly sliced
3 tbsp dried shrimps, rinsed and wrapped in kitchen napkins to soak off excess moisture
1 tbsp choy poh(pickled white radish), use the finely chopped ones
100 gm rice flour
2 tbsp tapioca flour
550 ml water
salt to taste
1 1/2 tsp 5 spice powder
fine grounded white pepper

Method

steam yam for about 15 mins. remove from steamer and set aside

heat wok/frying pan, put in about 3 tbsp oil and stir fry shallots until lightly golden brown. turn down heat and quickly remove half of the shallots to set aside, leaving the other half and the oil in the wok/pan

add dried shrimps, stir fry for a couple of minutes and add yam, salt, choy poh, 5 spice powder and pepper. stir fry for a few minutes to let the flavour fuse. dish up and set aside

combine rice flour, tapioca flour and a big pinch of salt and the water in a saucepan and stir til the mixture is smooth and lump free. place saucepan over a low heat and keep stirring continuously with a fork to keep it lump free. it will thicken. once it thickens, remove from the heat and add in the yam combo and stir to mix thoroughly. pour the whole mixture into a 20 cm cake tin and steam for 25 mins. make sure that the water in the steamer is at a bubbling boil when you put in the yam mixture

cool, and garnish with thinly sliced red chillies and spring onions and the fried shallots. serve with a chilli sauce of your choice

recipe is: onde onde

got this recipe from amy beh and added some extra pointers and tips

Ingredients

8-10 pandan leaves (screwpine leaves)

200 gms glutinous rice flour, sifted

pinch of salt

1/2 cup of boiling hot water

a few drops of green colouring (optional)

1/2 freshly grated coconut, mixed with a pinch of salt

FILLING -

100 gms gula melaka (palm sugar)

1 tbsp soft brown sugar

- combine both the sugars in a bowl/saucer


Method


put the pandan leaves with a couple of tbsp of water in a liquidizer. blend to a coarse pulp. or alternatively you can thinly slice the leaves and pound with a little bit of water in a pestle and mortar. strain to obtain about 2 tbsp of thick green juice. set aside

put the sifted glutinous rice flour and a pinch of salt into a mixing bowl. pour in the boiling water and the pandan leave juice. stir well to form a smooth dough. if the dough is too stiff add a wee bit of water with a teaspoon. if it's too wet, add in a bit of glutinous rice flour

divide the dough into small pieces to form lime-size balls. flatten the ball fairly thinly into a curved bowl shape and put in half a teaspoon or so of the filling. bring the edges to meet and gently roll with the palm of your hands back into a ball shape

get a pot of water boiling. drop the balls into the boiling water. don't throw in too many at once. when the balls are cooked, they will float. scoop up with a meshed stainer or perforated ladle of some sort to drain off the water and toss in the grated coconut

Note:-

during the mixing of the flour with the water and pandan juice, it might look way too dry and there's an urge to add in more water. be PATIENT and mix thoroughly. it might seem too dry when you're mixing, but if you add too much water, the dough becomes sticky and not pliable at all. if needed, add the water very sparingly.

recipe is: strawberry and apple crumble

recipe was taken from someone who contributed to nigella's site. i tweaked the recipe a bit.

Ingredients


Crumble Topping


300 gms instant oats

60 gms brown sugar

165 gms butter



Fruit Filling


2 apples, peeled, cored and chopped into small pieces

500 gms strawberries, sliced

120 gms coarse brown sugar

2 tbsp water


Method


Topping

mix the oat and butter well, add sugar and mix til it resembles crumbs


Filling

place apple and water in a saucepan and on very low heat cook til apples begin to soften

add strawberries and sugar and mix thoroughly. take care not to leave it on the heat for too long as a lot of liquid will form and the filling will be very watery. leave it on the heat for a maximum of 2 minutes

spoon the filling into an oven proof dish and cover with crumble topping

bake in oven preheated to 190℃ for 25 - 30 minutes til the top is golden brown

Note:-

you can vary the sugar weight for the fruit filling. if you get sour, tangy strawberries, use a little more sugar, if you've got sweet juicy fruits, use less sugar. it's a personal taste thingy :-p

i find that using oat gives the best crumble and texture. you can substitute with wholemeal flour or even plain flour, but i find that the result won't be as nice

use a deeper dish instead of one that wide and shallow

recipe is: cupcakes with peanut buttercream topping

recipe was derived from here

Ingredients

Cupcakes

115 gms butter, room temperature

1 cup sugar

2 large eggs

1 1/3 cups all purpose flour

1/2 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp baking soda

1/8 tsp salt

1/2 cup milk

1 tsp vanilla essence/extract


Topping

3 tbsp butter

3 tbsp peanut butter

1/2 cup icing sugar

2-4 tbsp milk

pinch of salt

1/2 vanilla essence/extract


Method

Cupcakes

preheat oven to 180 degrees celcius/350 degrees fahrenheit

beat butter til soft. add sugar beat til light and fluffy

add eggs one at a time and continue beating in between

whisk flour, baking powder and baking soda in a bowl

add the vanilla essence to the milk

add 1/4 of the flour mix to the butter and beat

add 1/3 of the milk to the mixture and combine

repeat, alternating between flour and milk and ending with flour

scoop into cupcake papers til about 3/4 full (depending on whether you want flat or domed cupcakes)

bake for 20 - 22 minutes til cake tester comes out clean

put on wire rack to cool



Topping

in a bowl, beat all the ingredients well. add more milk if needed to make a fluffy spreadable frosting

use a butter knife/small spatula to spread topping on cooled cupcakes

recipe is: nasi goreng kampung

this is actually cooked by my hubby. he makes great fried rice of all sorts :-)


Ingredients

4 tbsp oil

3 bowls cooked rice (rice cooked a day before works best)

a handful small sized ikan bilis (tiny asian anchovies)

3 large chinese cabbage leaves, cut into strips

5 cloves garlic, chopped

1 onion, quartered and sliced

4 cilipadi (tiny bird's eye chilli, it's very hot and spicy)

1 tbsp kicap tamin (sweet thick soya sauce)

3 tsp light soya sauce

salt to taste



Method

heat the oil in a wok and throw in the ikan bilis to fry til golden brown and crispy.

throw in the onions and fry for 3 mins. add the garlic and fry for another 2 mins.

add the chinese cabbage and cilipadi and fry til the cabbage has soften a little.

add the rice and stir fry quickly to mix. add the kicap tamin and light soya sauce and salt to taste.

serve hot straight from the wok.



Note:

~ kicap tamin can be substituted with normal thick soya sauce, just add a pinch of sugar to sweeten

~ the bird's eye chilli is really hot and spicy. substitute with normal red chillies for a milder taste

~ most leafy green vegetable can be used for this dish

recipe is: banana delight/pengat pisang

Ingredients

5 cups water

100 gms palm sugar

150 ml coconut cream

8 ripe bananas

2 tbsp sago

5 screwpine leaves


Method

bring the water to a boil in a pot. put in the screwpine leaves. add the palm sugar and sago. turn down the heat. stir occasionally. boil til all the palm sugar has melted and the sago is thoroughly transparent. add the coconut cream and bring it to a boil. peel the banana skins and cut the bananas into 1/2 cm pieces and add them into the pot. boil for another 3 minutes and turn off the flame. can be served hot or cold.

note:-
~ you can adjust the amount of palm sugar added according to your taste. do take into consideration the sweetness of the bananas when adding more sugar.

~ palm sugar can be substituted with brown sugar. the amount may vary between the two, so do test for sweetness before adding more sugar.

recipe is: simple scrumptious salad

Ingredients

1 large cucumber - skinned, seeded and cut into bite size cubes (try to remove ALL the seeds to keep it crunchy)

3 red apples - skinned, cored and cut into bite size pieces. toss immediately with 1 tbsp of lemon juice to stop it from going brown (use the crunchy type of apples, i used fuji apples)

2 handfuls cherry tomatoes

dressing:

4 tbsp honey

juice of 1 large lemon

3 tbsp mayonnaise


Method

mix the honey and the lemon juice, then add the mayo and stir to mix thoroughly. put the dressing and the salad in the fridge. just take them out of the fridge, add the needed amount of dressing to the salad, toss and serve immediately.

note:

~ most types of fruits and vegetable can be used for this salad. it always best to use crunchier ingredients to give it more bite.

~ the ingredients in the dressing can be adjusted to taste. a less sweet and fruity alternative is:
mayo, tomato ketchup, mustard, tabasco sauce, grated garlic and salt.