Zebra/Marble Cake

I always like to make this cake (not because I like to eat, but because of the look!). Anyway, here's the recipe:

Ingredients:
1. 125g butter
2. 150g caster sugar
3. 1 tsp vanilla essence
4. 3 eggs
5. 20g milk powder
6. 100ml water
7. 225g self-raising flour
8. 1.5 tbsp cocoa powder

Steps:
1. Preheat oven to 180⁰C. Dissolve milk powder in water.
2. Cream softened butter with sugar until pale and creamy. Beat in vanilla essence.
3. Beat in eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition.
4. Fold in about half the sifted flour and then half the milk. Continue until both flour and milk finish.
5. Bake for 45 minutes.

and this is what I've got~nice color huh?

Prawn Seafood Spaghetti

We tried this at one of the restaurant over at our friend's place the other. He said is nice, so I thought of trying to create it last weekend. Anyway, the recipe is really simple, and it taste really good (although it doesn't look that nice!).

Ingredients:
1. Spaghetti (I've used about 100gm)
2. Small prawns (I've used about 100gm)
3. King prawns (I've used only 8)
4. Fresh thymes
5. 1/2 tbsp olive oil
6. half a cube of fish stock
7. 2 tbsp of butter
8. 5 cloves of garlic
9. Half cup of water

Steps:
1. Boil the spaghetti until is ready.
2. Heat frying pan and melt butter. Saute garlic until fragrant, then cook the small prawns. Add in the king prawns.
3. Once the king prawns are cook, take it out to avoid the prawns shrink.
4. Dissolve the fish stock in the garlic prawns mixture. Pour in about half a cup of water.
5. Simmer for about 7-10 minutes, then pour it on top of the spaghetti. Sprinkle some fresh chopped thymes.

Ready

Hot Dog Buns

Tried this recipe a few times, very interesting and of course very delicious too!

Ingredients
A)
1. 240 gm bread flour
2. 60 gm plain flour
3. 50 gm castor sugar
4. 20 gm milk powder
5. 2 tsp instant yeast

(B)
1. about half an egg
2. 150 ml cold water

(C)
1. 30 gm unsalted butter
2. <5 gm salt

(D)
1. Hotdogs (about 12)

Steps:
1. Mix (A) till well blended. Add (B) to form a dough. Add in (C) and knead until dough is smooth.
2. Gather dought and form a ball. Let it rest in a bowl and cover it with cling film/wet towel for about 50-60 minutes or double in size.
3. Divide dough into 12 portions (depending on you, how big or small you want your buns to be). Shape them into balls and leave it to rest for about 10 mins.
4. Roll out dough and wrap with hot dogs. Design as you like. :)
5. Let it proof(expand) on greased baking tray for another 50-60 mins or until dough is double in size.
6. Apply egg wash (1 beaten egg) on dough and sprinkle some shredded cheese on it. Bake dough at 180-190ºC for abt 12 mins. So this is what I get in the end.

Latest news: my Chili Plants!

Can you believe it? After so many months ... I've got only 3 chili from a plant. The rest, still .... Haiz...
Well, I'm still very SATISFIED! :)

Chocolate Mousse Cake

On 7th October 2007, HE booked for a dinner at one of the restaurants in St Paul Square. The dinner was quite good and these are what we had. Salmon with mash sweet potatoes on the left and monkfish and mussels on the right.

I was trying to decorate the mousse cake with some chocolate. So I went and turn on the microwave to the maximum heat and place some chocolate chunks in a bowl. I was in hurry to pick HIM up from the train station so I left the bowl in the microwave and went up and changed.The next minute, I smell something burnt! Gosh, again, I blew up my microwave. The whole kitchen stick again! Haiz...So, BECAREFUL!



Anyway, I would like to share this super easy recipe with excellent taste chocolate mousse..



This is the recipe that I've used:
Ingredients:
1. 20 ladyfingers, split
2. 1 packet of chocolate chunk
3. 1 cups of coffee
4. 400 ml whipping cream, whipped to soft peaks

Steps:
1. Line bottom and side of a loosebase cake tin with split ladyfingers.
2. Make a cup of coffee. Place half a packet of chocolate chunks on a bowl and start melting them with the coffee. The amount of coffee and chocolate depends on your taste (how sweet you want and how much coffee essence you want). I've used the a cup of coffee and half a packet of chocolate chunk.
3. Stir until all the chocolate melt. Fold whipped cream into the chocolate coffee mixture until no white streaks remain.
4. Pour 1/3 of mousse mixture into prepared cake tin. Place a layer of split ladyfingers over mousse layer. Then pour another 1/3 of mousse mixture over ladyfingers. Repeat with remaining mousse mixture. Cover and refrigerate overnight.

Just melt some chocolate and decorate as you like on the 'surface'.

This is what I've got ...




In 'return', I've got this from HIM. Guess what is this ...

Tau Sar Piah

This is something I would buy everytime go back to Malaysia. Well, I thought I want to give it a try and see the outcome. It turns out quite alright but the filling was a bit tasteless, because of SOMEONE that starts complaining when SOMEONE saw the amount of sugar that I have to put in! So an advice, DO NOT make the filling when your SOMEONE is besides you! :)

Here goes, the recipe:
Pastry:
Water Dough:
1. 100g bread flour
2. 100g plain flour
3. 70g lard, softened
4. 20g icing sugar
5. 100ml water

Oil Dough:
1. 120g plain flour
2. 60g lard, softened

Mung Bean Filling
1. 300g skinless, split mung beans.
2. 75g lard, corn oil
3. 1/2 cup shallots (or 8-10 shallots)
4. 1/2 tsp sesame oil
5. 1/2 tsp five-spice powder
6. 150g white sugar (I think I've 'managed' to use only less than 100g sugar!)
7. salt to taste

Glaze
1. 1 egg, lightly beanten for eggwash

For Mung Bean Paste filling
1. Soak mung beans into water for a least 2-3 hours.
2. When the beans are ready, drain and place it in a large plate that can fit into a steamer/wok. Steam the beans until soft, about 30 minutes.
3. Remove the beans from steamer and start to smash it like mash potatoes. (Shown in picture below)
4. Heat up a work with lard/oil and add sliced shallots. Cook over low heat until golden brown and aromatic (it takes a while).
5. Remove the goldn brown shallots and use the oil to cook the rest of the ingredients.
6. Add sesame oil and five-spice powder and cook over low heat until aromatic. Add in the bean paste with sugar and salt. Continue to stir the mixture with higher heat until thick. (Shown in picture below). Let it cool.


For Pastry
Water Dough:
1. Rub lard into the flours and add the remaining ingredients and mix to form a soft dough. The amount of water needed may be different. Please adjust according to your needs. Knead until smooth. Then wrap with clign film and set aside for about 15-20 minutes before using.

Oil Dough:
1. Rub lard into flour and knead until the dough is smooth.

Tau Sar Piah skin:
1. Divide both water dough and oil dough to 20 equal potions.
2. To make the skin, take one portion of water dough and roll flat. Then take one portion of oil dough and wrap it with the flat water dough. Roll the combined dough into a thin flat sheet using a rolling pin. With your fingers, roll the thin sheet up like swiss-roll style. Turn the rolled dough 90⁰ and roll it flat again. Repeat the action twice. Lastly, round the roll-up dough piece into a ball and set it aside. Repeat the steps with the rest of the dough pieces. (Shown in figure below)3. Preheat the oven to 200⁰C. Divide the filling into 20 equal portions.
4. Press each combined dough into a flat round disc. Wrap each portion of mung bean past with one combined flat dough. Seal it up tigthly by pressing the edges together to enclose the filling. Place the puff seal side down on a baking sheet. Repeat the until finished.
5. Before these go inside the oven, glaze the puffs with eggwash. Sprinkle some sesame seeds if you like. Bake for about 20-25 minutes or until lightly golden color. (This is what I've got out from my oven!)

Yam Cake (Malaysian style?)

This had always been our favourite! After we've tried from one of our friends, he was so in-love with it. And of course, I HAVE to get the recipe and learn from my friend.

Anyway, you can try it and let me know if there's any 'smell' that you don't like.

Now, here's the recipe.

Ingredients (A)

1. Rice flour – 225g
2. Glutinous flour – 3 tbsp
3. water – 825 g
4. salt – 2 ¾ tsp
5. sugar – 3tsp
6. white pepper – ½ tsp
7. chicken stock – ¾ tsp

Ingredients (B)

1. yam – 600g
2. dried shrimp – 120 g
3. spring onions – 2
4. shallots – 10
5. red chilies (shredded)

Steps

1. Heat 5-6 tbsp oil, mix the sliced shallots with corn flour and sauté the shallots until golden brown.
2. Soak the dried shrimps in a bowl of hot water. Blend all the dried shrimps. Scoop all the cooked shallots and use the oil to fry the blended dried shrimps. When it is ready, it will have bubbles. Stir it again, and let it cooked again (wait for another bubbles)
3. Scoop about 60% of the fried blended dried shrimps and cook the yams with the remaining oil and blended dried shrimps. Stir fry until about 70 - 80% cook. Depends on individual, stir fry until about 50-60% if you want the yam to be crunchy.
4. Mix all ingredients (A) in a bowl.
5. When the yam is about cook, stir in (4). Keep stirring until the mixture is thicken. Taste the mixture, add additional salt and pepper if necessary.
6. Once ready, scoop the mixture into a square(or round like mine) bowl. Flatten the mixture with the back of a spoon. Steam in medium fire for 40-45 minutes.
7. When is done, sprinkle cut spring onions, fried shallots and shredded red chilies before serve.

For the chili

Ingredients

1. Red chilies – 50 to 60g
2. Vinegar – 2 tbsp
3. Salt – 1 tsp
4. Water – 10 tbsp
   

Steps

1. Cut the red chilies into pieces and blend it with the water.
2. Heat a frying pan and pour the chili mixture into it.
3. Add some cornflour if you want it to be thicken.