Fried Rice (Curtis Stone)

So simple and yet so yummy :)
Fried rice indeed can't go wrong :)

I guess just like us, Curtis Stone loves fried rice, too LOL
Recipe is from HERE

What you need:

1 1/2 cup uncooked rice, cook as directed

4 tbsp canola oil, divided

2 large eggs, beaten to blend

4 small carrots (about 4 ounces (115g) total), peeled and finely diced (I grated)

Salt and freshly ground black pepper

3/4 cup thinly sliced green onions (spring onion)

80ml reduced-sodium soy sauce

1 tsp toasted sesame oil

Method:

1. Heat 1 tablespoon of canola oil in a large wok over medium-high heat
2. Add the eggs and stir with a fork for about 30 seconds or until just cooked
3. Remove the eggs from the wok and set aside on a plate
4. Heat the remaining 3 tablespoons of canola oil in the wok over medium-high heat
5. Add the carrots to the wok and stir fry for 2 minutes
6. Add the cold rice and stir fry for 2 minutes or until heated through
7. Season with salt and pepper
8. Stir in the eggs and 3/4 of the green onions
9. Add the soy sauce and sesame oil and continue to stir fry for 1 minute
10. Transfer the rice to a bowl and sprinkle with the remaining green onions

Here I added some fishcakes as requested by my kids, I stir fried just before adding in the carrots

This post is for Cook Like A Star,  hosted by Zoe from Bake for Happy Kids, Baby Sumo from Eat your heart out and Grace from Life can be simple

Durian Pengat

I LOVE DURIAN! And so is my family (except my kids)

I remember, long time ago when I was still teenager, my dad bought a lot of durian we had a feast and I had too much till all came out at the end of everything! And the best part is, the next day I still craved for more LOL

Another time, recently somewhere in 2011, I had quite a lot of durian and I ended up with a very severe throat inflammation I had high fever for 4 days! And it's really high, between 38.5 to 39.8 consistenly!

Still, I love durian :)
But since the throat inflammation incident, I somehow feel that my throat is more sensitive to any heaty stuff, in particular durian! :(

So, when Aspiring Bakers announced the theme for this month, Tropical Spiky Month, hosted by Mimi from MiMi Bakery House, I was like.. oh dear, hopefully I can contribute at least one, cos for me, it's impossible to make without eating them LOL Yeah...greedy me :))

I wanted to bake durian mousse cake, durian crepes, durian cream puff, durian cendol, durian egg tart, durian ice cream, oh to name just a few!
But in the end, I only can choose one, and I chose durian pengat, the simplest of all LOL
Also out of my curiousity at the same time, to taste how good this is

Oh my, this is heaven!
One scoop and that's it - you just can't stop! Especially when it's chilled!

The taste is not as plain as it looks, trust me!

Recipe is from Edith from Precious Moments. Thank you for this great recipe!

What you need:

175g durian puree
175g durian pulp
1 cup coconut milk
1 cup fresh milk
80g palm sugar (shaved)
4 pandan leaves, knotted

Method:

1. Put milk, palm sugar and pandan leaves in a pot, simmer til sugar melted
2. Add durian pulp and durian puree and simmer gently for 15 minutes
3. Put in 1/2 cup coconut milk
4. When mixture boils, add in the remaining coconut milk and bring back to boil
5. Serve chilled

This post is for Aspiring Bakers #33 (July 2013) - Tropical Spiky Month hosted by Charmaine of MiMi Bakery House

 

 

Oh btw, true enough, I did have sore throat after eating this dessert, and now sore throat is gone and turned to cough >.<

This dessert is too good to miss out!

I guess my throat has zero tolerance towards durian now :(

 

 

Cinnamon French Toast With Berry Sauce (Curtis Stone)

My all time favourite for breakfast!
In fact, it's also Ian's favourite, minus the cinnamon and the berry sauce
He only likes plain french toast drizzled with maple syrup
I'm the only person in the house who enjoys cinnamon, actually. Even DH isn't fancy about it, either. Strange, huh? Something so good, and they don't like it hehe...
So, this breakfast is only for me! :)

 

Recipe is from Curtis Stone, a chef I recently discovered thanks to Zoe from Bake for Happy Kids, through the event Cook Like A Star hosted by her

This month is all about Curtis Stone

Hhmm, I also just found out that he's a kind of cute LOL

 



 

What you need:

6 large eggs

4 1/2-inch-thick slices brioche bread, halved diagonally (I used thick toast, halved)

3 tablespoons butter

1/4 cup sugar

2 teaspoons ground cinnamon

To garnish:

1/3 cup crème fraîche (I didn't use)

Assorted fresh berries (I used diced strawberries and blueberries)

For the berry sauce:
170g fresh blueberries

170g fresh raspberries (I used strawberries - diced)

125g fresh blackberries (I didn't use)

180ml sugar

Method:

To prepare the red berry sauce:

1. Combine all the berries and sugar in a blender and puree until smooth
2. Strain the berry puree through a fine sieve, discarding the seeds, and into a small saucepan
3. Place the saucepan over medium-low heat and simmer for 2 minutes, stirring frequently
4. Remove from heat

To prepare the French toast:

1. Using a fork, beat the eggs in a 13x9 baking dish to blend. Place the slices of the bread in the eggs and let stand for 5 minutes, or until the eggs are absorbed, turning the bread slices once
2. Melt the butter on a heavy large griddle pan over medium heat
3. Add the bread slices to the hot pan and cook for about 2 minutes per side, or until golden brown on the outside and heated through
4. Meanwhile, stir the sugar and cinnamon on a large plate; set aside. Immediately place the hot French toast in the cinnamon-sugar and turn to coat completely
5. Divide the French toast among 4 serving plates
6. Top with a dollop of crème fraîche, is using. Spoon the berry puree over the French toast
7. Scatter the fresh berries over and serve immediately

This post is for Cook Like A Star,  hosted by Zoe from Bake for Happy Kids, Baby Sumo from Eat your heart out and Grace from Life can be simple

Below is other great bloggers cooking and baking inspired by Curtis Stone :)

KL Selangor Dry Chilli Pan Mee

I was so upset! I forgot to add in ikan bilis in the noodle!
And it's not only for the photography purpose, I was totally forgotten until the last portion of this yummy noodle! Aaaarrgghhh!
The best part is, I had ikan bilis ready to eat and I didn't even remember it :(

Well, what to do.. The next time I cook this noodle I surely won't forget
And actually, this noodle was already really enjoyable without the ikan bilis
With it added, it's definitely way much better, I can imagine!

The dried chilli paste is the star!

The poached egg is another star one can't miss!

Mix everything, and this super yummy noodles is waiting to be eaten!

Recipe is from Peng's Kitchen

What you need:


For the dried chilli paste:
30g dried chillis, soak til soft
2 fresh large red chillis, deseeded
2 medium sized onions, chopped
5 cloves garlic
30g dried shrimp, soak til soft
4 tbsp. vegetable oil

Method:

1. Blend all ingredients in food processor til smooth. Heat oil in a pan (I used Happy Call pan) over low fire and stir fry the blended mix til dry (it took me 45 minutes)
2. Watch the chilli paste, continue stirring to prevent burning
3. Cool completely and store

For the minced meat: (modified a little)
500g minced pork, marinade with 1 tsp sesame oil, 1 tsp wine, 1/2 tsp salt, a dash of pepper and 1 tsp cornflour
1 small onion, finely diced
2 cloves of garlic, finely diced
2 tbsp vegetable oil
1 tbsp oyster sauce
1 tsp dark sweet soya sauce (kecap manis)
3/4 cup chicken stock
salt and pepper to taste

Method:

1. Heat oil in pan over medium heat, stir fry onion and garlic for a minute or two
2. Add minced meat, stir fry til cooked
3. Add oyster sauce, dark soy sauce and chicken stock into the pan. Continue simmering the sauce until reduced to your preference. Adjust taste with salt & pepper

I used store bought flat noodles for this time. Perhaps the next time I cook this dish I'll try to make homemade noodle :P

To serve :
Top each bowl of cooked noodle with minced meat sauce, dried chilli paste, fried anchovies, poached egg & spring onion. Toss well


This post is for Malaysian Food Fest KL Selangor Month hosted by Shannon of Just as Delish

A Simple Bday Cake - Old Fashioned Marbled Cake With SCS Butter

Time flies. Really fast. My Ian turned 6 on Saturday. Feels like yesterday when he was born...

From a mere 2.85kg little baby, now he's a young boy going to Primary school next year!
Time indeed flies too fast!

Just like the previous years, he had his request for the birthday cake this year
Luckily, his request is considered "normal" :)
Inspired by Polar bakery, he requested for a cake with image on top and the sides coated with chocolate rice
And so predictable what he chose for the image. His love with vehicles, in particular cars. Among too many brands in the toys department, he's still in love with Tomica :)

I chose a simple cake that has been requested by Abby a few weeks ago, marbled cake
So happened I wanted to try this simple recipe, real popular lately among Indonesian home bakers

For this cake this time, I used SCS butter, a creamery and fragrant butter which I always love. In fact most of my bakes are using this brand if butter required
So why the mention this time?
Because the butter I used this time was a gift I received from SCS
They're kind enough to deliver personally a gift hamper for me...

 

The butter cookies and butter cake were real nice. It's gone in the same day, mainly eaten by my kids :)

A big thank you to SCS!

Back to the birthday cake...here's what I ended up with :)

Pic below: A little bit challenging to do the frosting in between the cake :)

Recipe is from a quite well known chef in Indonesia, Pak Sahak Pribadi

What you need:

8 eggs
180g caster sugar
3/4 tsp ovalette
3/4 tsp vanilla extract
225g plain flour
23g cornflour
23g full cream milk powder
150g butter, melted
75g canola oil
2 tsp chocolate paste

Method:

1. Preheat oven to 180degC. Grease and flour a rectangle pan (28x15cm) (original recipe used 28cm bundt pan)
2. Sift together plain flour, cornflour, milk powder
3. Mix together butter and oil
4. Beat eggs, sugar, ovalette, vanilla, flour mixture til doubled in volume and thick (about 10 minutes high speed)
5. Add in 1/4 of the batter into the butter mixture and mix well. Pour into the remaining batter and fold in gently
6. Spoon 1/4 of the batter and mix with chocolate paste
7. Pour yellow batter into the prepared pan and spoon chocolate batter all over it
8. Make marble effect with skewer or chopstick
9. Bake for 40 minutes or til skewer comes out clean
10. Remove from oven and the pan immediately

I cut the cake into 4 same size rectangles, crumb coated them with buttercream, pasted the 4 edible images on top of each cake
Coated the sides with chocolate rice, and did some piping at the base, all over each cake
It's pretty simple, except for the piping in between the cakes, hence the not so pretty looking piping LOL

The cake is real tasty. Texture wise, it's like butter cake, pretty compact with real fine texture. The next day it somehow tasted better and turned softer, too
Overall, I was pretty pleased with the result, knowing the method is really straight forward

Ian was happy, as always full of praise, even though I know it's not as great as those he saw at Polar. That's all to make my day :)

Happy birthday my precious Ian. Many many many more cakes to make for u :)
Love love love u XOXO

THB#20 Cranberry-Cashew Orange Coffee Cake

It's better late than never. I thought I would miss this bake again, after I missed the 19th bake (which I will still make cos I love lemony cake)
Fortunately I had the time to bake yesterday :)
My kind of cake, not too sweet after I adjusted the sugar used, and bursting with juicy tart cranberries, at the same time enjoying the crunchiness of the nutty streusel on top
Perfect with a cuppa. Yum!



I followed the recipe, but for sugar reduction I followed Joyce from Kitchen Flavours
Somehow, I find her preference for sweetness is more or less same as mine :)

I used 1/3 sugar for the batter (I used caster sugar). Replaced vanilla extract with orange extract and omitted nuts inside the batter. Reduced cranberries used to 1 cup only
For the streusel, I used 2 tbsps. caster sugar, and replaced pecans with cashews

For full recipe, please view Maria from Box of Stolen Socks
She has chosen to bake this wonderful cake :)


Our 20th bake for The Home Bakers, a baking group where we bake recipes from the book  "Coffee Cakes" by Lou Seibert Pappas, hosted by Joyce from Kitchen Flavours

 

 

Now, I still have time to bake the 21st bake. I'd better make the time soon :)

Murtabak Mee

I cooked this yummy dish a while back....

 

I didn't use specific recipe, I just dumped a packet of instant noodle (cooked) and the seasoning in a mixing bowl, added in 3 beaten eggs, chopped spring onion
Mixed them well, and cooked like making omelette
It's yummy, sinfully yummy :)

Then I saw Mui Mui from My Little Favourite DIY made a very similar version, and I was like being reminded on how good this dish is
So I made again :)

I did just like the first time I made it, but this time I added chopped onion like Mui did, as well as reducing egg to 2 instead of 3
So if you see the pics, this time the noodle is more visible than the my first try
And yes, it's even more yummy :)
So this is the recipe I'll stick to....
 
What you need:
 
1 packet instant noodle (I used Nissin garlic chicken flavour)

1 medium onion - peel and chopped

2 large eggs - lightly beaten

some spring onion - chopped

 

Method:

1. In a bowl add in lightly beaten eggs, noddle seasoning, chopped onion and spring onion. Set aside
2. Cook instant noodles until soft. Drain and add into eggs mixture and mix well. Divide mixture into 2 portions evenly into two small bowls
3. Add a little cooking oil into a non stick frying pan. Swirl around to coat the pan and heat the pan for a while
4. Pour a bowl of the mixture into the pan to fry until both side are lightly brown and cooked
5. Serve immediately