So many bakes I wish I could do using recipes from Martha Stewart, so little time in this busy month
This is my last post I can squeeze in, even though tomorrow morning I'll make my first breakfast of the year 2013 using Martha's recipe, and also her brownies recipe for my brownies craving Abby :)
Anyhow, back to the subject... This is a very tasty quiche, albeit it's crustless
Recipe can be viewed HERE, I followed exactly except that I replaced 1/3 of the cheese with gruyere cheese
Such a delicious and addictive snack and so easy to prepare
I definitely will make this again, soon :)
I used Vietnamese sweet potatoes. It has purple skin but apparently, even though it's also sweet, but the flesh inside is more to yellowish in color
As shared by Wendy, purple flesh sweet potatoes usually has sticker with purple background and those with white background sticker have yellow flesh
I was not aware of that. All along I just grab those look nice to me and whether it has yellow or orange or purple flesh, as long as it's sweet it doesn't matter to me LOL
It's good to get some new information, though. It can be very important and useful at times
Like making this snack, appearance wise, orange flesh sweet potatoes will give the best result :)
Recipe is from Lena's site but I used half plain flour and half sago flour to get some chewiness, which I didn't regret, i even found it's not chewy enough LOL
Very tasty, indeed. You won't be able to stop at one, or two, or more :)
My church Xmas celebration was on Sunday 23 Dec, and we went to Legoland Malaysia on Monday 24 Dec, so we had our Xmas meal on Xmas day itself, 25 Dec
I was busy in the kitchen the whole day cooking and baking on that day, despite feeling tired after the long day we spent in Legoland
As a result, I felt really tired for the next two days I didn't feel like doing anything, hence the late post cos I uploaded all the pictures only yesterday :)
So, here's what we had for our Xmas lunch...
Lemon maple honey baked ham with roasted vegetables, cream corn soup (cooked by my mum) and aglio olio spaghetti
The ham and vegetables before going into the oven
After out from the oven
I got the recipe from my sis' friend whom owns a restaurant, he's a great chef and I thank him for sharing this great recipe. This was the third time I used this recipe :)
Sorry but he didn't give the exact measurement of the ingredients used, and I never really measured myself everytime I made this...
What you need:
800g honey baked ham
salt / pepper
For glazing:
sweet dark soya sauce
worchestershire sauce
honey
lemon
maple syrup
salt / pepper
Vegetables I used roasted together with the ham: (cut in chunks)
Japanese pumpkin
baby potatoes
Australian baby carrots
green and red capsicums
Slice ham crosswise, marinade with salt and pepper, set aside for around 1 hour
In a bowl, mix all ingredients for glazing.
Arrange all cut vegetables in an oven proof baking dish. Sprinkle a little salt and black pepper also drizzle with a little oil
Brush ham all over with the glaze, and place in the middle of the baking dish on top of vegetables and bake in preheated oven of 220degC for approximately 1 hour
Turn ham to the other side halfway
And here's our dinner...
Still with the same roasted vegetables but this time it's roasted chicken :)
I like the name, I like how easy to prepare this dish and I like the good review she wrote
And so I chose this recipe, and what a good choice it was!
I skipped the pan-searing step, which I totally regretted. You see how my chicken looked like and you see hers and you know that this step is not to be skipped!
The next time I make this again, I will surely take the trouble to go through this additional step
Taste wise, it's really really good! Just like what she described - crisp skin, juicy and succulent meat
It's so good that there's no leftover on that night, all gone! :)
I marinated the bird for approximately 10 hours, from early morning to dinner time
The next time I make this again, I will marinade overnight
oh ya, I didn't tie the end of the leg to join them together since no stuffing for the chicken
Here's the recipe, thks Annie for sharing :)
What you need:
(I made 1.5 recipe for the seasoning)
1 whole chicken (I used free range / kampong chicken)
Clean the chicken, cut the feet, neck and tailbone. Wash and pat dry with kitchen towel
Mix well in a small bowl: oil, salt, pepper, rosemary and roast chicken seasoning
Spread the marinade mixture all over the chicken, including underneath the breast skin, too
Keep the chicken in the fridge overnight (in an airtight container or wrapped in cling wrap)
Preheat oven to 220degC with fan on, top and bottom heat
Pan sear the chicken for 1 minute each side, let it slightly browned
Cut the vegetables in chunks, place it in the oven proof baking dish, drizzle with oil and sprinkle with some salt and pepper
Place the chicken in the middle on top of the vegetables
Put the baking dish into the oven and bake for 40 minutes
Reduce heat to 190degC and further bake for 20 minutes
Did you see the browned skin on top? It's because I was itchy hand when I saw the bird was not brown enough to my liking, I switched the oven to grill mode at the last few minutes. I ended up having the slightly charred skin :(
But actually, it tasted yum, crisp and brown LOL
Not recommended though, it didn't do the appearance any good hehehe...
The Xmas tree cupcake, too bad I didn't have anything to make a yellow star to put at the top of the tree...
The Xmas wreath
And not to forget, Mr Snowman :)
Here's the recipe for the cupcakes...
What you need:
3/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1 1/2 cup plain flour
1 1/4 cup sugar
1 1/2 tsp baking soda
3/4 tsp baking powder
3/4 tsp salt
2 large eggs
3/4 cup warm water
3/4 cup buttermilk
3 tbsp canola oil
1 tsp vanilla extract
Preheat oven to 175degC
Line muffin pan with paper liners, set aside (I got 12 mini and 10 standard cupcakes)
Sift together cocoa, flour, sugar, baking soda, baking powder and salt in a large bowl
Add in eggs, warm water, buttermilk, oil, vanilla and mix til smooth, about 3 minutes with balloon whisk. Scrape the bottom and sides with rubber spatula to assure the batter is well mixed
Pour the batter into the muffin cups, 2/3 full
Bake til the tops spring back when touched and skewer comes out clean, mini cupcakes about 15 minutes, and standard cupcakes about 25 minutes, rotating pan if needed
Transfer to a wire rack, cool completely
Okay, so that's about all what I did on Xmas day
What a fun we had on that day, and of course - stuffed! LOL
Really hope you had a great Xmas too! :)
The snowman was chosen by Ian and candy cane was Abby's choice - both from Daiso :)
I was excited to try when I saw this cute idea of making bread in Taste Of Home
And then I saw Vivian did it too, so perfectly. I really wanted to give it a try
So I did :)
This was truly a challenge to be able to do this cake
It took three trials before I was pretty satisfied with the result, not the cake but more to the painting on the cake itself
The last trial I used slightly different recipe and that was a good decision to get it right
Now I know which recipe I shall use in the future
But will I make this again? I'm not sure. It took at least two hours for me to make, and it gave me a pretty high pile of dishes to wash wew.....
This cake is another example to prove that baking is indeed science
To be able to do it quite successfully does give a certain level of satisfaction and that matters :)
My first try - not too bad, but I burnt a little of the white color and it wasn't so smooth cos some parts were stuck at the baking paper that I had to peel super carefully with knife and arranged it back on the cake
I used Nutella for the filling
My second try - not too bad, either but I didn't like the christmas stocking, the red part wasn't smooth at all - even worse than the first try, and yes, some parts were still stuck at the baking paper
I used chocolate ganache for the filling
Finally it's smooth and firmly attached to the cake, I was pretty pleased with this one, except for the small stain on the tree and I used non stabilized whipping cream filling for this cake - it wasn't firm enough, hence the not so round shape of this rolled cake
I used whipped cream and cut strawberries for the filling
My first and second try were using the same recipe from Mba R, this recipe was used by many fellow Indonesian bloggers
It gave me a beautiful texture and yummy cake, it's really a keeper
But somehow, I couldn't be comfortable with the recipe for the batter to do the painting, even after the second try
My third try I used recipe from Miss B of Everybody Eats Well In Flanders
I must thank her for doing the translation and sharing it in her blog, it's a great help!
I was so pleased with the recipe for the painting batter, and the cake was yummy too, but more to thinner side
For the painting:
50g egg whites
10g sugar
5g corn flour
For the egg yolk batter:
Beat egg yolks and sugar til ribbon stage. In low speed, add in oil slowly, mix well
Add in water slowly, mix well
Add in flour and mix well til thick. Set aside
For the painting:
Prepare swiss roll pan, grease and line with baking paper which has drawing of picture to be painted. Place the drawing facing down
Beat egg whites and half of sugar til foamy, add in the remaining sugar gradually while beating in low speed til medium peak
Add in corn flour and mix well briefly til well mixed
Divide according the need of the painting, how many colors needed
Mix each part with each color til well mixed and put it in piping bag
Snip a very little hole at the tip of the piping bag and start painting starting from the outline first if there's one, otherwise start from darker color first
Bake in preheated oven of 170degC for 1 minute each color
Set aside
For the egg whites batter:
Beat egg whites and half of the sugar and salt til foamy
Add in the balance of the sugar gradually til medium peak
Add in corn flour, mix well
Scoop out 1/3 of the egg white batter into the egg yolk batter and fold in gently
Add in the remaining egg white batter and fold in gently (do not over fold to avoid the batter being deflated)
Pour the batter onto the prepared and painted pan, level
Bake for approximately 15-20 minutes - do not overbake to avoid difficulty in rolling the cake later on
After it's cooked, remove the cake from pan, peel the baking paper slowly and carefully
When the cake is cool, flip the cake on another baking paper (now painting is facing down) Spread with filling and roll away from you using the baking paper
Keep in the fridge for around 1 hour in the fridge til set before opening up the baking paper
I personally love both the cake recipes, but for the painting batter I definitely will use Miss B's recipe :)
This was a big batch of cookies baked by me and my sis
She has been watching Martha's video on making this cookies, drooling each time
Originally it used dried cherry but we decided to use dried cranberries instead
1 cup dark-brown sugar (I used packed light brown sugar)
1/2 cup granulated sugar
2 large eggs
1 tsp pure vanilla extract
2 cups old-fashioned rolled oats
2 cups dried sour cherries (I used dried cranberries)
Preheat oven to 175degC. Line baking sheets with parchment paper, set aside. In a medium bowl, whisk the flour, cinnamon, salt, baking soda and baking powder, set aside
In the bowl of an electric mixer, beat the butter and sugars until light and fluffy, 1 to 2 minutes. Add the eggs and vanilla, and beat to incorporate. Add flour mixture to butter mixture, beating on low speed to combine. Stir in the oats and dried cranberries
Drop the dough (50g each) onto prepared baking sheets, leaving 5 inches between cookies. Bake until edges are just turning brown, about 20 minutes. Cool 2 minutes on baking sheet, then remove to wire racks to cool completely
If you like chewy cookies with oats, you'll love it. If you also like dried fruits, you'll love this cookies even more :)
It's been a week since the last time I updated my blog
Not that I didn't do any cooking and/or baking, not that I couldn't access internet
It's just I had no mood to blog, even though I did do a little blog hopping and was always online in FB
Well, it does happen to me from time to time, blogging blue LOL
Okay, now talking about this chicken dish
My family loves steamed chicken, so when I saw Wendy posted this dish, I knew I would make it, especially she introduced the steam bake method using oven, which I never did before
Oh how I love the steam bake method! The texture of the chicken was perfect! Juicy, flavourful and tasty, and yes, the texture of the skin is really great!
And nam sauce, something new to me too, was just the perfect companion for the chicken, really delicious!
Unless you don't eat chinese chives, you definitely will love it!
A bowl (or more) hot fluffy rice is all you need to eat this hearty dish :)
What you need:
(I adjusted according to my family preference and what I had in my fridge)
1 kampong chicken (medium size)
2 tbsp shaoxing wine
1 tsp salt
2 spring onion
For nam:
100g chinese chives
40g ginger (after peeled)
a little less than 1/2 cup canola oil
8 tbsp light soy sauce
2 tbsp sesame oil
Rub salt and wine all over chicken, inside out. Prepare oven proof dish and place chicken, fold spring onion and place underneath the chicken
Cover dish. I used round pyrex with no cover, so I used aluminium foil, sealed around the sides and made roof on top of the chicken so it didn't touch the skin, lightly oiled the foil facing down (the one in facing the chicken)
Bake in preheated oven of 160degC for 45 minutes
Leave it in the oven for 30 minutes, remove and let cool (still covered)
Chop when already cooled
To make nam:
Wash chinese chives, shake water, spread the chives and put on a clean cloth, cover with another clean cloth and press gently til no longer wet. Slice thinly
Slice ginger into 1 cm thick slices, smash and chop finely
In a dry pan, dry fry til smells good, remove from pan and put in a heatproof bowl
Put 2/3 of the sliced chives over ginger
using the same pan, heat oil til very hot. Put in the other 1/3 chives, gently stir around and immediately pour this boiling oil into the raw 2/3 of chives and fried ginger
Let sit for approximately 30 seconds and gently stir after that
Add in sesame oil and soy sauce
Serve chopped chicken with nam sauce separately or pour nam over it
Butter cake is one of very well received cake in the house
This special recipe was really hot amongst blogger sometime back, so I gave it a try and wow! This butter cake is indeed really special! Softer than the usual butter cake, finer texture, too and really moist and taste really good!
Preheat oven at 180degC. Grease pan, line the base and grease the sides to help the sides rise well (I used 2 20x10cm loaf pans, you may use a 8" square pan)
Beat egg whites til soft peak, gradually add in 50g sugar, and beat til stiff, set aside
Cream butter and 150g sugar til pale and fluffy. Put in vanilla seeds and beat for awhile
Add in egg yolk one at a time and beat well after each addition
Put in half the flour and beat in low speed til well mixed. Put in milk in 2 additions and mix well. Mix in the balance of the flour
Put in half the egg whites and beat in low speed. Pour the balance and fold
Pour batter into the pans and level
Bake for around 30 minutes til skewer comes out clean
(I covered the top loosely with foil for the last 15 minutes)
Somehow I still got a little crack at the top of the cake. Many baked this cake and they were so amazed with the crackless butter cake they got
Not sure whether it's because of the size of the pan I used
Let me try to bake this cake again with an 8" square pan and see if I still see crack :)
I always a fan of Martha Stewart, she has a pair of super talented hands and fingers, not only in the kitchen but basically in every corner of the house and even outside the house!
So, I'm happy that this month's Cook Like A Star theme is Martha Stewart :)
This is her cake I wanted to try for so long, and this is the time for me to give it a shot, in conjunction to DH's birthday
Recipe is from HERE, very similar to other Devil's food cake recipe, actually
I modified a little and I didn't make the chocolate ganache, I used Nutella instead
Time constraint I had since it's school holiday now (read: me being lazy LOL)
What you need:
(recipe below is 1/2 recipe I made with slight modification)
170g unsalted butter
43g cocoa powder + extra to dust
1/4 cup boiling water
255g sugar
1/2 tbsp vanilla extract
2 large eggs
145g cake flour
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt
1/2 cup fresh milk
1 1/2 tsp instant coffee powder
Grease a 20cm round pan, line with paper and dust with cocoa powder
Sift cocoa and coffee powder into the boiling water, whisk. Set aside to cool
Cream butter (low speed) til light and fluffy. Gradually add in sugar - around 3 minutes
Add in vanilla and eggs one at a time til well mixed
In a large bowl, sift flour, baking soda and salt
Whisk milk into the cocoa/coffee mixture
With mixer on low speed, add in flour and milk/cocoa/coffee mixture into the butter mixture (starting and ending with flour)
Pour batter into the prepared pan, bake until skewer comes out clean, around 35 minutes, rotate pan halfway for even baking
Let cake cool on wire rack. Cut into two parts after it's completely cool
Spread filling evenly on the top part of the bottom layer and top with the other layer
For DH's bday this time, I was so clueless about how to deco the cake
I ended up piped the whole cake with star tip. It looked more like white Xmas cake than birthday cake to me. But the most important thing is, he loved it, not only the deco but also the taste of this delicious cake, and so were the kids and me :)
This cake is popular among Happy Call Fans Facebook group
There are two versions - baking and steaming, both using Happy Call pan
The recipe is slightly different between steaming and baking, simply because steamed version always produces cakes which are more moist, hence the lack of liquid ingredients in the recipe
Both recipes received 100% great reviews, and loking at the unique ingredient used - marie biscuits to replace flour, also how easy and quick to make this cake, made me decided to give it a try :)
I made the steamed version, and oh how true the comments I read about how good this cake is
It is so tasty, delicious and the texture is so moist, soft and fine! I love it and so is my family
Recipe is from Happy Call Experience and Recipe Sharing Facebook group
What you need:
150g softened butter (I used unsalted butter)
120g caster sugar
3 large eggs, lightly beaten
150g original Marie biscuits, crushed and processed into powder form
1/4 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt (I added)
cocoa powder (I omit this and replaced with 3 handfuls of semi sweet chocolate chips)
Prepare 2 cups of water in Happy Call pan and bring to boil
Grease square 18 cm square pan, bottom and sides
In a mixing bowl, beat sugar and butter til pale, light and fluffy (high speed)
Reduce to low speed, add in eggs one at a time til well incorporated
Add in salt, baking powder and Marie biscuits, mix well
Fold in chocolate chips til evenly distributed
Pour batter into the prepared pan, and put in Happy Call pan with the boiling water inside, steam medium low heat for 10 minutes
Check the water in the pan, you may add a little more
Reduce the fire to very low heat and continue to steam for another 30 minutes
Note:
The original recipe divided the batter into two, add cocoa powder into one part of the batter
Pour the plain batter into the pan first, followed by the chocolate batter and make marble effect with chopstick
This is actually my second try to make the cake
The first time was yesterday, I used the same recipe above which was meant for steaming method but I was so blur I baked it instead using Happy Call pan
The result was not too bad, actually, still tasted yummy, but it turned a little dry and hard the next day
I'll definitely find time to try to make the baked version again, using the other recipe supposedly for baking :)
For the steamed version, yes, definitely I will make it again - my kids enjoyed it so much, that's a motivation! :)
My second dish for Malaysian Food Fest: Kedah Perlis, also a dish I know the whole family will love
And it's a good way to make my kids eating fish, hence I divided the batter into two parts, one used chilli and the other one did not
One thing I forgot was the lime leaves used
The supposedly nice fragrant was apprently not well received by them
After a few bites they complained about the 'lemony' taste
Noted that the next time I make this I will omit the lime leaves too for them (but not for me LOL)
This yummy dish tastes really similar to Thai fish cake, even the chilli dip
Recipe is from My Kitchen Snippets' site
What you need:
300g fish paste (I blended tilapia fillet til smooth)
2 long beans - finely chopped
3pcs kaffir lime leaves - finely chopped
1 spring onion - finely chopped
1 small egg
1 red chilli - finely chopped
1 tbsp chilli paste
1 tbsp oyster sauce
salt (I didnt use cos the chilli paste I used had salt in it)
1/2 tsp pepper
1/2 tsp sugar
cornstarch to coat
Mix everything except long beans and cornstarch
Add in long beans and keep in the fridge for 30 minutes
Shape into balls, flatten into disc and coat with cornstarch
Fry both sides til golden brown
Sauce:
2 fresh red chillis - ground into paste (I used 1 tbsp chilli paste)
3 tbsp white vinegar
6 tbsp sugar
4 tsp cornstarch
200ml water
salt
Mix all ingredients in a pot and bring to boil
Simmer til thick
Serve immediately. Dip the fried fish cake into the sauce. Yum!
This is one dish from Nothern part of Malaysia caught my eyes for this month's Malaysian Food Fest - Kedah & Perlis
Never know any of their dish, I just followed what others made and this is one of my choice that finally I could make time to prepare
It's very similar to my favorite Thai mango salad
I didn't put cut red bird's eye chilli cos my mum can't take too spicy and I don't mind not having it in this dish, either
I didn't put crushed peanuts cos we don't really fancy having it in this salad
Sour, sweet, so refreshing! Best eaten chilled and after keeping it at least an hour in the fridge to let the dressing absorps well
Recipe from Phong Hong with some modification I made
What you need:
2 young mangoes, peeled and grated
10 cherry tomatoes, halved
5 shallots, thinly sliced
2 red bird's eye chillis - chopped (I didn't use)
2 tbsp dried prawns, soaked, drained and fry til crisp and golden in color
Dressing:
juice from 3 large limes
2 tbsp fish sauce
1 tbsp plum sauce
5 tbsp light brown sugar (I added)
1 shallot, thinly sliced
Garnish: crushed peanuts (I didn't use)
In a bowl mix all dressing ingredients, set aside
In a large bowl, mix all salad ingredients
Pour dressing over the salad
Keep in an air tight container and refrigerate for at least 1 hour
Recipe is from the book Magic Steamed Cake by Alex Goh
Nice taste and texture. Soft and tasty cake. A request made by Ian sice he's craving for pandan cake, one of his favorite cakes :)
Original recipe used red bean filling made in cupcakes, but I chose to use 20cm round pand, sliced the cake into two, spread a thin layer of buttercream and sprinkle grated cheddar cheese and I had a pandan cheese layered cake :)
This is a big cake. I still have extra batter so I poured onto individual muffin mould lined with muffin paper liners, I got four not so full cupcakes
If you make this for a small family, I suggest make half recipe
I made one recipe and it's too much for my family I shared some with my neighbours :)
The color was a little too pale, cos I omitted the green coloring and replaced with a tiny drop of pandan paste instead to enhance the flavour
What you need:
(modified to suit my family liking)
A
240g eggs (I use 5 medium eggs)
250g sugar
1/2 tsp salt
120g canola oil
B
2 tsp pandan juice
1 tiny drop of pandan paste
200g coconut milk (I used 100ml Kara + 100ml water)
C
400g flour
1 tsp baking soda
4 tsp double action baking powder
Preheat steamer, wrap the cover with clean cloth, and prepare a 20cm round pan, greased
Whip A til sugar dissolves and slightly thicken
Add in B, mic until well blended
Fold in sieved C, mix until well combined
Pour 1/2 of the batter into the pan, steam for 15 minutes
Pour the remaining batter into the pan, and steam for another 30 minutes (Please judge yourself when pouring the remaining batter. I poured til almost 3/4 full and I poured the remaining batter on the cupcake moulds)
After the cake cooled, cut into two, spread buttercream and sprinkle grated cheddar cheese for filling
