Category: Food

I was seriously thrilled when I saw this recipe!

My hubby love love love .. or should I say.. ADORES eggs! I won’t even be surprised that he will choose an egg (Eg: Humpty Dumpty) over me! Hmph! Anyhow, I decided to try this recipe.. and it was worth it!! The result?! Delicious!!! OMG! It would taste even better with Nasi Lemak! It reminds me of the eggs you see at Malay rice store…and it taste like it too! It is super easy to prepare!!!

Golden Egg Curry Recipe
(from Rasamalaysia)

Serve with rice or bread

Ingredients:

4 large eggs or extra-large eggs, preferably free-range
1/3 cup peanut oil or unroasted sesame oil ( I used vegetable oil)
1/8 teaspoon turmeric ( I don’t have this at home so I used curry powder)
2 small shallots, minced
2 teaspoons minced garlic
¼ teaspoon Red Chile Powder, or to taste ( I don’t have this at home so I used curry powder)
2 medium tomatoes (about ½ pound), finely chopped
2 teaspoons fish sauce
½ teaspoon salt, or to taste
2 or 3 green cayenne chiles, seeded and sliced lengthwise into 3 or 4 strips each

Method:

Place the eggs in a saucepan, add cold water to cover, bring to a boil, and cook at a medium boil for 8 minutes. Drain the eggs and cool in cold water. When the eggs are cool enough to handle peel them.

Heat the oil in a wide heavy skillet over medium-high heat. Add the tumeric and stir to dissolve it. When the oil is hot enough to sizzle when a drop of water is dropped into it, add the peeled eggs and fry until golden and a little blistered all over: cook on each side in turn, then try to balance the eggs on their ends to cook the tips. Frying the egg is a fun little task, quickly done, and it makes them very attractive. With a slotted spoon, lift the eggs out of the hot oil and onto a plate. Cut them lengthwise in half and set aside.

Pour off all but 2 to 3 tablespoons of the oil (the oil can be used again for stir-frying). Heat the oil remaining in the pan over medium heat, add the shallots and garlic, and fry briefly, until translucent. Add the chile powder and tomatoes and, stirring frequently to prevent sticking, cook at a strong simmer until the tomatoes have broken down into a softened mass, about 10 minutes.

Stir in the fish sauce and salt, then taste and adjust the seasoning if you wish. Raise the heat to medium-high, add the chile strips, and stir. Place the eggs cut side down in the sauce and cook until the oil sizzles, about 3 minutes. Serve hot or at room temperature.

I don’t like Pork BUT I just got to try cooking this dish since I bought some spices back from SG this time round..

This dish reminds me of home 🙂 haha.. my mum cook this often because my dad loves it! Now I am cooking for my hubby.. hopefully he loves it too!

yummy!! taste super good with rice! and the best part is.. it taste even better overnight! I like to cook such dishes because Bh can pack it for lunch the next day… oh.. the meat is tender and it does not have the ‘porky’ smell!

P/S: Put just enough spices (cinnamon/star annise/cloves). when the recipe states ‘1’, just put ‘1’  as too much can be overwhelming!
——

Braised Pork Belly in Soy Sauce

(from Noobcook)

Constantly check that the braising sauce is not dried out during the simmering. You will need to add water (a little at a time) when the stew is drying out. Visit Noobcook’s blog for more tips!

Ingredients

8 dried Chinese mushrooms
4 eggs
1-2 tbsp cooking oil
500 grams pork belly
3 tbsp dark soy sauce
1 litre water
1 cinnamon stick (桂皮)
1 star anise (八角)
4 cloves (丁香)
1/2 tsp Chinese 5-spice powder (五香粉)
1.5 bulbs garlic separated into individual cloves (no need to peel)
dashes of white pepper powder to taste
spring onions or coriander garnishing

Instructions

1.Soak dry mushrooms in small bowl of hot water until puffy, then drain water. Squeeze out the water from mushrooms and trim away stems. Set aside the mushroom caps.
2.Prepare 80% cooked hard boiled eggs. To do that, place eggs in saucepan of cold water (enough water to cover eggs one layer). Bring to a boil for about 2 minutes, turn off the stove and cover with lid for about 7 minutes (for 100% hard boiled eggs, it’s about 10 minutes). Rinse the eggs with cold water until eggs are cooled. Peel when cool enough to handle. Set aside.
3.Heat oil in casserole (wok, claypot or deep pot). Brown pork belly on both sides on medium heat. Add 1.5 tbsp dark soy sauce on both sides of browned pork belly.
4.Add the rest of the ingredients except eggs, tau kwa and spring onions/coriander. Bring to a boil, then lower heat to a simmer (with lid partially closed) for an hour, or until the meat is tender.
5.During the last 10 minutes of simmering, add eggs and tau kwa. To serve, slice pork belly to smaller, bite-sized pieces. Serve with rice or steamed buns. Garnish with spring onions or coriander.

If I need to choose a vegetable to eat everyday.. it will be Brussel Sprouts! 😀

I love brussel sprouts so much! It resembles little cabbages right? hehe.. well.. don’t be taken aback by the weird appearance of these veges, they are highly nutritious! They can lower cholesterol and is also said to prevent cancer! Brussel sprouts are so expensive in Singapore.. I am really glad that we could get these cheaper in the US. Btw, BH dislike brussel sprouts.. usually, I eat everything myself.. haha

There are many ways to cook brussel sprouts.. but this is my fave way.. it is easy, fast and flavourful 🙂

Brussel Sprouts* in Garlic Oil

*This recipe by Noobcook is very versatile, it’s not restricted to Brussel Sprouts, you can use it for other vegs!

(A) Garlic Oil
– 3 tbsp vegetable oil
– 8 cloves garlic, finely chopped

(B) Oyster Sauce Mixture
– 1 tbsp oyster sauce
– 1 tbsp hot water
– 1/2 tsp sugar

(C) Vegetables
– 500 grams of Brussel Sprouts

Directions

(A) Garlic Oil
1. Heat up vegetable oil in a wok. When the temperature is hot enough (add a tiny piece of chopped garlic into the oil to test – if it starts to sizzle gently, the oil is ready), add the chopped garlic and using a spatula, distribute the garlic evenly so that they are fully coated in the oil.
2) Let the garlic cook in the oil, and turn off the flame once the garlic starts to turn light* golden brown.
3) Pour the garlic and oil in a small bowl. The garlic will continue to cook for a little longer in the bowl of hot oil until it turns a lovely golden brown.

* Cooking Note: You need to turn off the flame once it turns light golden brown. If you turn off the flame when the garlic turned a “just right” golden brown, they will cook further in the hot oil and become burnt/dark brown.

(B) Oyster Sauce Mixture
1. In a small bowl, stir using a spoon, all the ingredients in (B) till well mixed.

(C) Vegetables
1. Heat a large pot of water with 1/2 tbsp vegetable oil added.
2. When the water is boiling, add vegs and blanch for approximately 30 seconds (Brussel Sprouts will take longer, about 3-5 mins).
3. Drain vegetables. Assemble on a serving plate and drizzle (A) garlic oil and (B) oyster sauce mixture over the vegetables.

Nothing excites me more than cooking 🙂

I surf for recipes when I’m bored.. I stay up just to look for what’s new to cook.. OMG.. I like cooking! Just that.. I cook faster than my hubby could eat.. eeks… not that it’s not nice.. but I cook too much? haha

This dish is one example of me trying to cook more than what the recipe calls for. It was also the first time that I’m using my Happycall pan ( yes, before it became sadcall)

Sizzling Tofu recipe

(from Cuisine Paradise)

Ingredients:
1 Tube of Egg Tofu
2 – 3 Fresh Shittake Mushroom, cut into thick slices
1/2 Small Carrot, cut into slices
1 Pack Sweet Peas
2 Eggs, light beaten
2 Slices of Ginger
3 Cloves Garlic, minced
1 Tablespoon of Cornflour
Some chopped Spring Onion And Chilli

Seasoning:
1/2 Teaspoon Chicken Powder
Splash of Cooking Wine

1. Cut the tofu into equal pieces(around 6 – 8 pieces), lightly coat them with cornflour and set aside.

2. Preheat HCP on low heat for 1 minute, drizzle 1 teaspoon of oil in the pan, arrange the prepared tofu on the pan, cover and lock.

3. Fry tofu for 2 minutes(flip after 1 minute) or till slight golden brown. Remove and set aside.

4. Next add in 1/2 tablespoon of oil, add in minced garlic, ginger, mushroom and carrot. Lock and cook on low heat for 1 minute, open and add in sweet peas together with 1/2 teaspoon of chicken powder and splash of cooking wine, give a quick stir and cook for another 1 minute.

5. Lastly, arrange the cooked tofu in the pan, slowly drizzle beaten egg around the ixture. Cover the pan and cook for 20 – 30 seconds depending on your preference. (the egg mixture will continue to cook due to the heat of the pan so do not overcook the egg)

6. Turn off the heat, remove the pan and serve hot with some extra spring onion, freshly ground black pepper and cut chilli scattered on top.

—————–

If you are wondering.. I realised that Happycall cooks omelet BEST – shall post one soon! The magic or rather maximum number of eggs the pan can accommodate is 3 large eggs – any more than that, it will not look nice aesthetically

As you can see from my pic, I doubled the ingredients in the recipe.. and the eggs were not too cooked ( 1/2 cooked eggs taste nice too!) It was very difficult to dish out.. when I dish it on the plate.. it looked like a HOT MESS. haha.. yes… so ugly.. that i didn’t dare take pictures!!! It taste really like zhu chao style though

Shall attempt this dish again!

Fresh from the oven! Smells soooooo gd!

I followed the recipe from Christine’s Recipes but used muffin pans instead. I find it troublesome to cut the parchment paper, so used cupcake liners for some of the batter. However, the cakes in the cupcake liners turned out to be hard :/ The cakes wrapped in paper were good! I personally find the cake not sweet and a bit dry. It still taste nice though. I will try another variation in future > Orange Paper Cupcakes

Makes 16 cupcakes ( using muffin pans)

Ingredients:

5 eggs
50 grams butter
60 ml milk
100 grams cake flour (available at supermarket or Asian stores)
80 grams sugar
1/4 teaspoon vanilla extra
1/4 teaspoon cream of tartar

(2/10 of my personal blog challenge)

Practise makes perfect! Finally – the almost ( I believe there’s room for improvement) perfect Japanese cheesecake!

Japanese Cotton Cheesecake Recipe
(from Everybody loves a sweet ending)
Ingredients:
140g/5 oz. fine granulated sugar
6 egg whites
6 egg yolks
1/4 tsp. cream of tartar
50g/2 oz. butter
250g/9 oz. cream cheese
100 ml/3 fluid oz. fresh milk
1 tbsp. lemon juice (can omit if you want a sweeter cake)
60g/2 oz. cake flour /superfine flour
20g/1 oz. cornflour (cornstarch)
1/4 tsp. salt

Instructions:
(Preheat oven to 160deg)

1. Melt cream cheese, butter and milk over a double boiler.

2.Cool the mixture. Mix in lemon juice, egg yolks and then fold in the salt, flour and cornflour.

3. Whisk egg whites with cream of tartar until foamy. Add in the sugar and whisk until soft peaks form.

4. Fold egg white mixture 1/3 at a time, to the cheese mixture until the batter is even.

5. Pour into a 8-inch round cake pan (Lightly grease and line the bottom and sides of the pan with greaseproof baking paper or parchment paper).

4. Bake cheesecake in a water bath* for 1 hours 10 minutes or until set and golden brown. (I left mine to cool for half an hour in the oven with the doors ajar as advised from other bloggers cos I was afraid that it would collapse suddenly if there was too big a change in temp)

*To bake cheesecake in a water bath means putting the cake pan (the one with the batter), into a bigger pan which contains hot water up to the middle of your cake pan. my 2 6-inch cake pan fits nicely in my baking pan 🙂

My notes:
– For step 2, it is important to cool the mixture to room temperature. I waited about 1 hr for the mixture to cool. I mix the flour and wolk mixture by hand – no need to use mixer
-For step 3, mix egg whites to soft peaks = creamy, thick mixture. Peaks droop when you make a peak with a whisk. This is the only step I needed to use my mixer
– This time round, I actually separate the egg whites and yolks using a egg seperator. It is better this way as egg yolk will not accidentally break, contaminating the whites
– I used 2 6-inch pans and baked for 1h 10 mins. I feel that baking in smaller pans makes the cake raise better
– My cake pans are not springform types. If you are using a springform pan, do wrap the botton of the pan with aluminium foil so water doesn’t seep into your cake.

This had always been a cake on my to-do list!

Since I managed to get free eggs from Safeway, I decided to try out the recipe 🙂 Nothing excites me more than trying out a new recipe! Baking/Cooking is such a joy!

Anyway, this is my first time baking a marble cake so I was quite certain that it won’t turn out well.. hah.. I actually wasted like 4 eggs because the egg yolks broke and polluted the egg whites when I was separating them. From my experience, egg whites are very sensitive.. you need to be very careful and make sure that there’s no egg yolks – else it might not reach the desired stiff peaks. Anyhow… I still polluted my egg whites :/ sigh… my egg whites did reach stiff peaks BUT it’s a little watery ( I beat them with my KA mixer for 20mins) I was quite sure my cake won’t be good… however… i think I was kinda wrong?! haha.. it turned out quite well!

Pardon the holes! haha… i was testing if the cake is cooked or nt. I’m not using an oven with fan.. so I was afraid that the cake won’t be baked properly! phew… at the end of 45 mins.. the skewer was still unclean! i pressed on… baked for another 10mins…still not clean… try for another 10 mins… finally… DONE! That’s y there’s so many holes! I just wanna make sure! ( Total time taken: 65 mins) I might use 2 6″ pans for baking this cake in future

First peek~~~

wah… got swirling design ok!! 😀 Happy!! I thought that the most cake-citing part was the type of swirling design you will get.. haha

Lovely!!! Sliced all out and they all looked pretty!

well… I ate 2 pcs immediately… how do u think it tasted?? hahaha… now i feel that the time i spent running in the gym is wasted 🙁

A piece for you!

Old-Fashioned Marble Cake Recipe
(from Thelittleteochew via Life is Great)

– 8 large eggs, separated
– 9 ozs (255g) castor sugar
– 12 ozs (340g) unsalted butter, softened
– 9 ozs (255g) all purpose flour
– 1 1/2 tsps baking powder
– 1 1/2 tsps pure vanilla extract
– 2 tbsps good quality cocoa powder
– 1/4 tsp salt

1. Preheat oven at 160°C (convection fan on) with a wire rack in the middle. Line an 8-inch round cake tin with parchment, butter and flour. Sift flour, baking powder and salt in a bowl. Set aside.

2. Cream butter in the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment till light and fluffy. In a separate bowl, whisk the egg yolks with the sugar till light. Gradually add this into the butter and beat on medium speed till just incorporated. In a separate bowl, whisk the egg whites till stiff peaks form. With a spatula, fold in the meringue into the egg yolk mixture in 3-4 batches*. Add in the dry ingredients gradually until just incorporated.
* The first time I added the egg whites, it was impossible to fold. What I did was just mix it up with the thick yolk batter and “loosen up” the batter. The subsequent batches were much easier. I folded the whites in 3 batches.

3. Scoop out 1/4* of the batter in a separate bowl. Sieve cocoa powder over it and fold to mix well. Pour batters into tin, alternating between the two mixtures. Start with the yellow batter and end with the cocoa mixture. Rap pan on counter several times to eliminate air bubbles. With a long skewer, swirl (sparingly) around the batter to create the marble effect. Bake for 40-55 minutes or until a tester inserted into the middle of the cake comes out clean.
* This is somewhat arbitrary. A little more won’t hurt, especially if you want a bit more chocolate in your cake! 🙂

4. Cool on wire rack completely before serving. Cake keeps at room temperature up to 3 days and can be frozen up to 3 months.

Try it! 🙂