Baked Apple French Toast - Eggy Bread #1

This week will be about 2 french toasts and 1 bread pudding.

So, anyone of you with a loaf of sandwich bread but don't know what to do with it, maybe you can try out this week's recipes to clear stock.

Scary Mandarin and Annoying Orange - Random Sunday

When I was a kid, every Chinese New Year, we wil buy a box of TeoChew Mandarins. Grandaunt will ask us to keep all the peels and she will dry them in the sun. The sundried peels will be kept in old Milo tins. Grandaunt uses the dried peels in sweet soups and some dishes. But whatever we dry is more than we ever need.

Hot and Spicy Mayonnaise Prawns - Prawns Week # 3

Recipe tried out: Nov 2011

Another spicy prawn??
Err.. sorry if you hate spicy food.

I think I might have overdosed on the mayo, hence, these prawns look heavily coated unlike love2cook's, of which looks perfect for me. I prefer hers.

But for those of you who love mayo, then throw that white grease in.

Sesame Orange Shrimp - Prawns Week # 2

For this year's Chinese New Year, my FIL went all the way to the coastal areas to get seafood.
He bought few large fishes, 2 kg of prawns, crabmeat and lots of other stuff. We took one kg of the prawns and used it to prepare a dish for the reunion dinner. We found that the prawns to be.... not very fresh.

Garlicky Spicy Prawns - Prawns Week #1

Recipe created in July 2011

I bought these prawns on a trip to the night market and they looked really fresh.
I had no idea what to cook with them yet and the next day I knew I just got to cook them asap.
I used what was in my pantry and came up with this dish.

Take note that the garlic was sauteed on low heat so that they dry up and get crispy, then only later, the prawns are returned on high heat. This way, everything remains fragrant and not soggy.

Homemade Chinese Croutons - Random Sunday

One of my favs condiments for congee/rice porridge is crispy youtiao bits.
Hawkers usually will deep fry them but I choose to bake them.

Mocha Checkerboard Cake - Caffeine Cakes #3

It was my hubby's birthday. Last Nov.

My hubby loves chocolate and each year, I'll think of something chocolate for him. 2011 was Chocolate Enigma Cake, 2010 was German Chocolate Cake. 2009 was..... a failed mango baked cheesecake that he told me to dump after blowing candles because it smelt and tasted like grass. And before that... nothing.

Coffee Pudding Cake - Caffeine Cakes #2

Many years ago, Jusco's bakery had this pudding cake that I really adore. I will never fail to get at least one box each time. But it's not cheap, I think it's RM4.99 for a few bites, say about 4X4 only. I always feel unsatisfied with just one box.

Soft sponge, with a custard/pudding like jelly filling and a slightly bitterish coffee top. I'm in heaven.

Tiramisu - Caffeine Cakes # 1

Recipe made in March 2011 (LOL, more than a year ago!)

Oh my Oh my…. Tiramisu : )

It’s so funny that all the blogging years, I’ve never never attempted a Tiramisu. Nor did I ever felt tempted to try it out. When some people I talk to know that I bake, they ask me, ever made tiramisu? I’d be dumbfounded and said no, not yet. It seems that is the first cake they ever ask me. Is that a pre requisite for someone who bakes? Must every baker make 1 tiramisu once in their life? Well, maybe a lot of people love tiramisu, but I was just so so about it. Most tiramisus I had are very bland, taste more like a coffee cream cake more than anything else. Maybe mascarpone is too bland for me, or those bakeries just didn’t use as much mascarpone to bring the flavour out? It just doesn’t appeal to me so so much that I got to add it in my baking list. Frankly, it is not.

New plants and herbs, and update on my Strawberries - Random Sunday

It's been quite a while since I've last posted my plants.

I've been adding more plants and there'll be more to come.

New Plants

I bought my western herbs from those mini pots found at Jaya Grocer and BIG. Transplated them to the pot and they grew soooooo big. None died , so far :)

Cost me RM60 for this pot

I'm suspecting this is lemon thyme, but when I bought it, the label says just Thyme

Updates on previously featured plants



It's growing like mad, trying to creep everywhere!



My strawberries. Never flowered, but kept on having babies. I have more than 10 plants all around my garden.

Unidentified

Do you know what are these?

Sometimes things just pop out in my garden because I throw my food waste all around and let them rot.



Looks likea fruit tree sapling....but what is it? I dunno



I'm suspecting it's orange.



Calamansi??? Err... I don't know.

What is this thang??? I suspect it's edible

It looked like Sawtooth Coriander (刺芫荽)when it was small, but it's huge now (even bigger now, today!)

It actually tasted like English parsley.

It has no flowers, so that makes it super hard to identify

Please help me with this final pic

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More to come the next round,

local herbs and a fruiting plant that caught me by surprise.

Brinjal Barrels with Caramelized Mince - Katrika Week #3

Dish prepared on 6/4/2012

I invented this dish when I was still teaching in Selancar, Pahang. My room mate and I could only cook whatever we could buy at the settlement's market  with very limited choices, cabbages, amaranth, water convolvulus, Indian Mustard and beansprouts being the norm of leafy vege. Cucumber and brinjal are the everyday item at the market for fruit vege. Luckily I love eggplant/aubergine/brinjal and am always on the quest to find new methods to cook the purple thingy.

Ratatouille - Katrika Week # 2

Recipe attempted on 24th May 2011

I learnt to know of this dish’s existence through… the cartoon!!! It was very pretty to look Remy (the rat) slicing the vegetables, tossing them into the baking dish, having that baked and served. Although the original version is nothing like such, but more of a pot of vegetable stew, I’m definitely more interested in making the visually more attractive dish.

According to Chef Michael Smith , sautéing the aubergine and zucchini first will give much better flavour. Of course I won’t skip the step. If the chef tells you this step will give you better flavour, go ahead and do it. I always love the smell of fried aubergine and squashes, therefore I truly believe this super tedious step will give me definite satisfaction later.

Slicing the vege is a breeze to me. It’s the searing of the vegetables that almost killed me. Being at 39 weeks, with baby Reuben sitting so low in my tummy, standing so long to sear almost each slice of vege is no easy feat. (Reuben could pop out any minute!, but now he's 10M) I sliced them thin and each vege took at least 3 panfuls to finish searing. I did 11 pans of searing. Haha! But it’s all worth it. The aroma from the seared vege is just wonderful.

Ratatouille

Recipe source: WendyinKK
Inspired by the animated movie, Ratatouille

Vegetables
1 aubergine (12 inches)
1 yellow squash (12 inches)
1 green zucchini (12 inches)
3 roma tomatoes
Olive oil for rubbing onto the vege

Preparation of vege:
Slice every vegetable into 2-3m thick. Put sliced aubergine, squash and zucchini into a big bowl. Pour some olive oil in and toss all the vegetables around. Heat a pan and sear the oiled vegetables.


Sauce ingredients
1 cup chopped onions
4 cloves garlic
1 cup chopped capsicum
400gm tomatoes, chopped
½ tsp ground oregano
Salt to taste
1 Tbsp sugar (more or less to balance the taste of the tomatoes)
Handful of basil
Olive oil for cooking

Cooking of sauce:
After searing the vege, with the same pan, on medium heat, put in some olive oil and sauté garlic and onion until golden and fragrant. Put in chopped capsicum and cook for 1 minute. Put in chopped tomatoes and cook until softened. Add in oregano, salt and sugar. Cook until everything softens and turns thick.


Assembly:
Preheat oven to 200 (fan)/220C
Put sauce onto base of baking pan. Put basil over sauce. Arrange the 4 vege in sequence over sauce.
Bake for 15 minutes.

Verdict:
We had this with some homemade buns. I truly loved this dish, but my tomato basil hating hubby tried very hard to eat a few slices of it. My MIL and BIL enjoyed this dish a lot. The sauce was good and the seared and baked vege was just yummilicious. That is if you love squashes and those sort of stuff. The dish didn’t turn watery as the early sautéing removed some of the moisture and I really cooked the sauce thick. The extra moisture from the dish only came from the roma tomatoes that weren’t seared. The dish is still moist but not soggy, with the top fragrant from the high temperature baking.

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Bake Fest by Vardhini hosted by Sumee

Fragrant Fried Eggplant and Long beans - Katrika (Tamil) Week # 1

Katrika is the name in Tamil for this purple fruit vegetable. Some call it eggplant, some call it brinjal, some prefer its name to be aubergine. Whatever you may call it, it's this purple thingy.

There's a tai-chow (Chinese Hot Stir Fry Shop) in Pasir Putih, Ipoh that is very popular, Peng Tau 兵头. It's affordable, reasonable, quick and delicious! Something like Little Paris of SS2/PJ.

One of their signature dishes is this Eggplant Long Beans. Oh yes, the name is just Ai Gua Dau Gok (埃瓜豆角）. Simple and nice.

Happy Easter 2012

Happy Easter to all who share the same faith

Chocolate Raspberry Cake - Rasps Whole Cakes #3




  This was the first birthday cake that I made for ME. My birthday was months ago, more than half year ago... as you all know, I post very slowly.

Personally I felt awkward making a cake for myself. But it's because my kids now understand that birthdays are something special for a person, then I can have my own cake and blow it too. I can't wait for the day when my kids will bake me my cake because no one will buy me one ... get it? LOL.

Raspberry Ripple Cheesecake Ice Cream - Rasps Whole Cakes # 3

Recipe created in Aug 2011

There are times when you see something, die die you must buy (die die is a local slang for don't care much, and with persistence). That's when you see raspberries selling for RM4.75/punnet (70% off). How can I not buy, right??

Coconut Raspberry Lemon Cake - Rasps Whole Cakes # 1

Actually… I made this cake based on Dorie Greenspan’s Perfect Party Cake. But, somehow cakes calling for the method that mixes butter with flour and lastly with eggs just never finds favour with me. They refuse to rise well. I was slicing the cake, preparing to frost it....... hesitating..... whether I should continue with or not with a not so fluffy cake. In the end, I decided, NOPE. So, I dumped the cake into the fridge and quickly made another cake, with a trusted method that I am comfortable with. Make a sponge using the chiffon method. There's only 2 hours left to serving time. It was my FIL's birthday.

Homemade Ghee or Clarified Butter - Random Sunday

I was told long ago during my teenage years that Ghee is made from the fat of the goat, hence the strong smell.
Did I believe it? Nope. Cos I saw a picture of the cow on the can, so how can the fat be of goat, LOL