Fried Tofu Balls

This can be eaten as snack dipped in Thai sweet chilli sauce or eat as a dish with rice and soup. Here I made cabbage soup - the simplest of all :P

 

 

 

Recipe is from Indonesian recipe book by nutrition and healthy food enthusiast Wied Harry

What you need:

150g prawn (just the meat)
100g minced chicken
150g firm tofu, mashed
3 tbsp grated carrot (or turnip)
1/2 tsp white pepper powder
1/2 tsp salt
2 tbsp fried onion, pulse in a chopper
1 tsp fried garlic, pulse in a chopper
2 tbsp finely chopped chinese parsley
4 tbsp tapioca flour
1 egg, beaten
vegetable oil for frying

For the soup:
4 cloves of garlic, minced
2 tbsp vegetable oil, for sautéing
1L chicken stock
1/4 tsp sugar
1/2 tsp white pepper powder
1 tsp salt
1 tsp light soya sauce
half small cabbage - sliced

For garnish:
chopped chinese parsley
chopped spring onion

Method:

1. Mix prawns, chicken, tofu and carrot. Add in pepper, salt, fried onion, fried garlic, parsley, flour and egg. Mix well
2. Heat oil on a wok. Spoon batter (a tbsp each) and deep fry til golden brown. Drain
3. For the soup: Sautee garlic til fragrant, set aside. Boil stock, add in sautéed garlic, sugar, salt, pepper and soya sauce. Bring to boil and remove from heat
4. Arrange tofu balls in a bowl, pour the soup over. Sprinkle with parsley and spring onion
5. Serve immediately

I'm submitting this post to Little Thumbs up organised by Doreen from my little favourite DIY and Zoe from Bake for Happy Kids, hosted by Mich from Piece of Cake at this post

 

 

This post is also for Cook-Your-Books #5, an event hosted by Joyce from Kitchen Flavours

 

 

Bake Along #53 - Brown Sugar Raisins Bread (Williams-Sonoma)

Raisins, cinnamon, brown sugar
Another lovable combination, easily lovable :)

I baked only 1/4 recipe after I found out even half recipe still uses almost half a kg of bread flour. I guess it's pretty wise since the bread is best eaten on the baking day itself
It's still great to be eaten the next day by microwaving it about 15 secs. Throwing them in the toaster was great, too
To me, this bread is flavourful enough to eat on its own. Texture wise, it's not so fluffy but it's soft with a little chewiness. Nice!
Thanks for choosing this recipe, Joyce :)

Recipe is from the book The Williams-Sonoma Baking Book
or HERE

What you need:
1/4 recipe (for 1 20x10cm loaf pan)

1/4 tbsp active dry yeast

3/4 tbsp granulated sugar

75ml warm water (40-46degC)

60ml warm milk (40-46degC)

3/4 tbsp unsalted butter, melted, plus extra for greasing

1/4 tbsp salt

1/2 (30g) large egg, lightly beaten

240g bread flour

35g golden raisins (sultanas)

35g dark raisins

Filling:
40g firmly packed light brown sugar mixed with 1 1/4 tsp ground cinnamon

Method:

1. In a bowl, sprinkle the yeast and a pinch of the granulated sugar over 25ml of the water and stir to dissolve. Let stand until foamy, about 10 minutes
2. Using breadmaker, add in the remaining water, milk, egg, and yeast mixture
3. Followed by sugar, salt, flour and yeast
4. Start dough cycle and after 5 mins kneading add in butter
5. Let it knead and do the first proofing - total is 1 hour 30 mins
6. Lightly grease and line the pan
7. Take out the dough from the breadmaker and flatten using rolling pin
8. Brush lightly with butter (my addition) and sprinkle with filling
9. Beginning at a narrow end, tightly roll up each rectangle into a compact log. Pinch the ends and the long seam to seal in the filling. Place each log, seam side down, in a prepared pan. Cover loosely with plastic wrap and let rise at room temperature until the dough is about 1 inch above the rim of each pan, about 1 hour
10. Preheat an oven to 175degC. Bake until the loaf are golden brown and pull away from the sides of the pan, 35 to 40 minutes. Turn the loaf out onto wire rack and let cool completely

 

 

 

 

This is for Bake Along , a baking event organised by  Joyce from Kitchen Flavours, Lena from Frozen Wings and Zoe from Bake For Happy Kids

 

 

AFF Japan - Chicken Katsu

Another deep fried Japanese dish my family always enjoys :)

 

 

Recipe is from Nami from Just One Cookbook (the blog I visited the most this month LOL)

 

What you need:

 

3 chicken breast

2 tbsp sake

salt, black pepper

all purpose flour

2 eggs

panko breadcrumbs

oil for deep frying

 

Method:

1. Rinse the chicken and pat dry with paper towel. Slice the chicken diagonally. This cutting technique is called “Sogigiri” in Japanese. Each piece will have more surface area so it will cook faster
2. Put the chicken in a bowl and add sake, salt, and pepper. Set aside for 15 minutes
3. Dust the flour on the chicken and remove excess flour
4. Then dip it in beaten egg. Lastly, dredge the chicken in panko and remove the excess. If you have time, let the chicken sit in the refrigerator for 15 minutes
5. Heat oil. Temperature should be 180degC. Read How To Deep Fry Food
6. Put 2-3 pieces of chicken in at a time. If you put too many chicken pieces, the temperature of oil will drop too quickly and the chicken will end up absorbing too much oil
7. Deep fry until both sides are golden brown, about 5-6 minutes. Then transfer to a wire rack or paper towel-lined tray to remove excess oil
8. Between batches, make sure to pick up breadcrumbs. When you don’t pick them up, the breadcrumbs will get burnt and the oil will get darker. Make sure to keep the oil clean throughout deep frying

 

For the tonkatsu sauce, I made homemade version from Nami
Taste just like the store bought one - delicious!

What you need:

2 tbsp. worchestershire sauce
2 tbsp. ketchup
1 tbsp. oyster sauce
1 1/2 tsp sugar (original recipe 1 1/8 tsp)

Combine all ingredients above til well mixed


This post is for Asian Food Fest October 2013: Japan hosted by Alan from Travelling Foodies

 

 

THB #24 - Peach Cashew Coffee Cake

The Home Bakers bakes recipes from the book Coffee Cakes by Lou Seibert Pappas
I discovered many similar recipes from this book
Nevertheless, it's yummy, and easy to make. So, why not?
This cake is one of them :)

 Chosen by Chaya from Bizzy Bakes, this is a cake well received by my family, except Ian who doesn't like fruits haizzz...

I baked half recipe and followed the recipe, replacing granulated sugar with caster sugar, reducing by half (since I used canned peached) and omitted nutmeg (not preferred by my family)

For full recipe, please visit HERE

 

This post is for The Home Bakers hosted by Joyce from Kitchen Flavours

Kue Satu

It's been a while since the last time I did my 'homework' for LBT, the last post was in March!
So glad the group has been restructured to keep up the flame alive :)

So, this is the task of the month
A very traditional Indonesian cookies mostly enjoyed by my parents' generation
Honestly, I never get the chance to taste this
Now that I know, I must say it's not bad - taste wise, but not the kind of cookies I would enjoy nor make again. The only person in my family enjoyed eating this was only my dad. My mum said he loved eating it during his childhood
Well, it's no regret going through the experiment. One curiosity killed is an achievement for baking enthusiast :)

 

 

I used recipe from my LBT baking friend, Rosdaniar

 

What you need:

 

100g fried green bean flour (I bought from Poon Huat)

50g caster sugar

2 tbsp water (I added 1/4 tsp more)

 

Method:

1. Mix flour, sugar and water. Sprinkle water and mix well
2. Sieve the mixture and shape with the mould (I used mould for kuih bangkit, but any chocolate mould can be used too except the silicone type)
3. Arrange on an ungreased baking sheet
4. Preheat oven to 120degC and bake for 15 minutes til firm
5. Let cool and keep in an airtight container

 

 

The most frustrating part was the shaping. The dough was so crumbly and fragile that no matter how hard you press it to the mould, it'll stay crumbly when taking out from the mould and the tendency for the cookies to break was almost 100%!

I was pretty lucky to get more than 50% of the cookies in rather good shape

And it's also the noise from mould banging while taking out the cookies.. Don't bake this for you late night baking, you'll be in trouble LOL

 

 

 

 

This post is for LBT October challenge: Kue Satu

AFF Japan - Karaage - Japanese Fried Chicken

I occasionally grabbed a bag of chicken karaage from supermarket frozen section for this, and I must observe every bite in case I see chicken skin
Yes, I hate chicken skin I always discards it in my every chicken dish. Hence my family doesn't eat it, either

This is the more garlicky version from Nami of Just One Cook Book
Yes, I love garlic I usually add a little more than suggested by recipe. Hence my family loves it, too

Hhhmmm... two similar sentences in one posting. Talking about the power of mum LOL

So satisfied with the result of my first trial of making karaage
Homemade is always the best. No unknown substances added, no foreign ingredients I never hear about used. Yes!

What you need:

500g skinless boneless chicken thigh
salt, ground black pepper
1/4 cup potato starch
1/4 cup plain flour
oil for deep frying

Seasoning:
1 inch ginger
8 cloves of garlic
1 tbsp light soya sauce
1 tbsp sake
1 tsp sesame oil
1 tsp sugar

Method:

1. Rinse chicken, pat dry with paper towel and cut into 2 inch pieces (try to cut in almost uniform sizes so frying time will be the same). Season with salt and pepper and keep in a ziplock bag or an airtight container
2. Grate ginger and garlic (I used chopper)
3. Add in ginger and garlic to the chicken and the seasonings too. Keep refrigerated (covered) for at least an hour
4. Heat oil to 170degC
5. In a bowl, mix potato starch and plain flour
6. Right before the oil is ready, add the potato starch and flour mix to the chicken. You do not need to mix it evenly. The uneven coating gives each piece its unique texture
7. Gently drop each piece of chicken separately into the oil. Do not overcrowd. Deep fry 3-5 pieces at a time. If you put a lot of chicken in the oil, the temperature will drop quickly and chicken will end up absorbing too much oil
8. Cook for 90 seconds, or until the chicken is cooked through and outside is light golden color. If the chicken changes color too quickly, then the oil temperature is too high. Either put a few more pieces of chicken in the oil or lower the heat. Controlling oil temperature is the key for deep frying
9. Transfer the chicken onto a wire rack to drain excess oil. While resting on the wire rack, the chicken will continue to cook with the remaining heat
10. Between batches (or even while cooking), make sure to pick up crumbs to keep the oil clean (otherwise oil will get darker)
11. When you finish all the batches, then bring the oil to 180C
12. Deep fry for the second time for 45 seconds, or until the skin is nice golden color and crispy
13. Transfer the chicken onto a wire rack or paper towel to drain excess oil. Serve the chicken immediately

As explained by Nami:
Using potato starch gives crispier karaage than corn starch, even though it's a good substitute. Also, please take note that potato flour is different from potato starch

I also must thank Nami for the detailed explanation about deep frying, very useful!

 

 

This post is for Asian Food Fest October 2013: Japan hosted by Alan from Travelling Foodies

Bake Along #52 Hokkaido Milk Loaf

This is one bread recipe sitting for quite long in my endless to do list
Great time to try out, finally! :)

I chose the straight method by Angie's Recipes
I tried Tang Zhong method once quite a while back and failed miserably. I wasn't in the mood to accept any failed bake with a big heart for now, so I avoided Tang Zhong for the time being LOL

Very happy with the result. This is one plain yet flavourful bread I definitely will make again
This recipe is officially in my fave bread now! :)

I should have used bigger loaf, but this is the only size I have

My kids named this "flower bread" haha...

 

It's a joyful feeling tearing them apart! :)

Soft, fluffy and tasty, too!

 

You can put whatever you feel like having - Nutella, jam, peanut butter, cream cheese - anything. I don't even mind eating it plain :)

What you need:
(below is half recipe)

270g bread flour
30g cake flour
1 1/4 tsp instant yeast
15g milk powder
40g caster sugar
4g salt
45g egg
125ml fresh milk, scalded
75g whipping cream

Method:

1. Put all wet ingredients into the breadmaker pan (egg, milk, cream) followed by the dry ingredients (mix together in a bowl: bread flour, cake flour, milk powder, sugar, salt - and pour together)
2. Make a well in the centre of the flour mixture in the breadmaker pan and pour in yeast
3. Start breadmaker (dough programme) and let knead for 30 minutes followed by 1 hour proofing (first proofing)
4. Take out the dough and divide into 3 equal portions, leave to proof for 20 minutes in a large bowl
5. Flatten and shape each dough to oval, fold each side to the centre and flip (sealed side down)
6. Flatten with roller into a long rectangle (length about 30cm) and then roll away from you like when you make swiss roll
7. Arrange all 3 side by side in a lined loaf (I used 20x10cm) and leave to proof (second proofing) til doubled in size - between 30-45 minutes depending on the weather
8. Preheat oven to 170degC and bake for 35 minutes til golden brown
9. (I found my bread turned brown at the top pretty fast, so I tented it for the last 10 minutes of baking)
10. Remove from oven and let cool on the rack

This delicious bread is for Bake Along , a baking event organised by  Joyce from Kitchen Flavours, Lena from Frozen Wings and Zoe from Bake For Happy Kids where we baked our 52nd treat :)