I had originally planned to cook the usual steamed minced pork , but after receiving calls from two of my sis just minutes before starting to cook dinner, i realised that only three people will be having dinner at home. Thinking to halved the amount of everything for dinner, i did some slight changes to the menu and instead made this mini steamed minced pork.
While preparing the mince pork, my creativity juice starts flowing and i thought to make them into tiny individual portion. This time, as i’m too lazy to do the more complicated method, i remove the egg layer part and just make the pork mince part. This is similar to the earliest recipe handed down in the family.
Anyway, at dinner time, sis was amused with the steamed minced pork in tiny tin foil cases and asked why i did that. And i reply, “ because they look cute and this way, everybody will have their own portion of steamed meat, no more, no less.”
Mini Steamed Minced Pork
( makes 3 )
Ingredients:
80 g pork mince
1 egg
1 tbsp light soy sauce
1 tbsp mirin
50 ml water
1/4 tsp ground white pepper
some coriander, chopped
some chinese sausage, shredded
Method:
1. Mix all ingredients together until well blended. Let rest for 10 minutes.
2. Pour mixture into small moulds and sprinkle shredded Chinese sausage on top.
Place in steaming pan and steam over medium high heat for 8 minutes.
3. Remove from heat and serve.
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Few days ago, while the family was watching TV programmes, YS, who was reading a local TV magazine saw an article about barbecue chicken wings and mentioned that it has been a long time since we had some. She asked me if i can make some at home. The idea sounds good to me and i said “ OK ”.
Haha, since i had promised her, i decided to deliver my promise as early as possible as she may start to pester me everyday about it. So, with the chicken wings bought, i marinated them with my ‘ basic instinct ’ ( i randomly add the condiments which i have on hand with a rough estimation, thinking they should blend well ). After marinating for a few hours, onto the grill they went, and within a few minutes the whole kitchen is filled with an aromatic flavour that makes my mouth watered. I couldn’t resist and grapped one to bite, hmmm… Yummy, Yummy!!
During dinner, YS asked me how many was she allowed to eat, and i said “ How many do you want? ” Half an hour later, when BG was having her dinner, she said that it was delicious and asked how many was she allowed to eat too!
Hahaha! So pleased with their reaction, i replied that both she and YS could have all of them if they could finish them. Never mind the rest who haven’t eaten it yet, for those who didn’t know about it, they wouldn’t feel the lost. YS immediately agreed; as long as they destroy the evidence ( chicken wings ), no one would be the wiser. This made them very happy and they immediately got down to it.
Seeing their happy faces, i promised them i would make it again soon. And they asked, “ When? ”
“ …… …… ” I should have kept my mouth shut.
Grilled Chicken Wings
Ingredients:
15 chicken wings mid-joint
3 tbsp oyster sauce
2 tsp garlic oil
3 tbsp brown sugar
1 tsp 5 spice powder
1 tsp ground coriander
1 tbsp hua tiao wine
Method:
1. Mix all ingredients together in large bowl. Cover and let marinate in fridge for 4 hrs or more.
2. Drain excess marinate and place chicken wings onto grill pan and grill in preheated oven
at 250°C for 18 minutes, turning chicken over at mid time.
3. Remove from grill pan and serve with sprinkle of lime juice.
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I was first introduced to Pork Floss Bun many years ago when ‘Breadtalk’ open their store in Singapore. One of my girlfriends went bread shopping, and unable to resist their cute and unusual appearance, she bought quite a few bread buns to share among 6 of us ( a bunch of girls ). We were to taste and give comments about the bread we eat, and i was given pork floss bun.
Over the weeks, we had practically tried all the bread available, and had quickly established our own favorites. I like a couple of them, but i have to say that pork floss bun is my most favourite. Both sweet and savory, the combination of flavour is simply delicious. From then on, i will always buy some home whenever i come across one of their chain stores.
A few months ago, it suddenly came to my mind of making pork floss bun myself. This way, i can have them whenever i want and saves money at the same time. Tempted with the thought, i started browsing through the internet looking for recipe for pork floss bun. I came across a few, and decided on one that seems easy enough.
However, that is as far as it goes at that time, my five minutes fever had passed and i chunk the recipe into my recipe file and completely forgotten about it. Hehe.
Then, out of the blue, the pork floss fever struck again, and i was filled with the zest to make it. This time, it was considerably easier as i already had the recipe and ingredients on hand, getting down to do it is just the matter of walking into the kitchen.
Hours later, after the hard work and sweat ( i used hand to knead ), the buns are done. Hmm, it was yummy! The bread soft and fluffy, the mayonnaise sweet and the pork floss slighty crunchy. Simply delightful!
Freshly baked bread buns in tart moulds.
Interior of bun ( soft & fluffy )
The making of Pork Floss Bun requires two separate steps; the bread making and the cooking of transparent mayonnaise needed to ‘glue’ the pork floss to the bun. It was time-consuming, but the effort was well worth it.
Pork Floss Bun
Ingredients:
Basic Sweet Bread Dough:
100 g bread flour
50 g plain flour
3 g instant yeast
20 g sugar
70 ml milk
1/2 egg
20 g butter, softened
Transparent Mayonnaise:
50 g sugar
1/2 tsp salt
25 g butter
200 ml water
15 g cornstarch + 50 ml water
Basic Sweet Bread Dough:
1. Combine all ingredients except butter in large bowl. Mix and gather to form dough.
2. Remove dough to lightly floured surface and mix in butter. Knead to combine.
3. Continue to knead for 30 minutes until smooth and elastic.
4. Place dough into large oil bowl, cover with cling wrap and let proof 1 hr, until dough
doubles in size.
5. Punch dough to remove air and divide dough into 20 g each ball and rest 10 minutes.
6. Shape into round ball and place onto greased muffin cups or flat baking sheet. Cover and
proof another 1/2 hr.
7. Brush with milk and bake at 180°C for 8-10 minutes, or until lightly browned on surface.
Transparent Mayonnaise:
1. Combine sugar, salt, butter and water in pan and bring to boil over low heat.
Stir to dissolve sugar and melt butter.
2. When mixture starts to boil, add in cornstarch mixture and continue to cook over
low heat until mixture turns transparent and starts to thickens.
3. Remove from heat and allow cooling before using.
Assembly:
1. Brush cooled mayonnaise over top of buns and coat thickly with pork floss.
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It seems that i’ve fallen in love, ( with bananas, that is ), most of the time the desserts i’ve baked has bananas in it. It looks as if i have an obsession with bananas and couldn’t do without them for long period of time. Haha. The truth is; Dad will buy some bananas back for our fortnightly praying and he always likes to buy banana. However, after the praying, nobody wanted to eat those bananas, except me and him, and between the two of us, we couldn’t finish them in time before they became overripe. Those poor things will then grow uglier and uglier ( their skin will develop black spots all over ) day after day, until they were totally ineligible.
So, in order not to let them go to waste, i turn those ugly buggers into delicious desserts, which my other family members will eat then. Hmm… Seems to me that they are a bit spoilt.
Anyway, this time round, i’ve chosen to bake a simple banana cake which always goes well in the family. I find that most store-bought banana cake are dry and dense in texture and they are usually too oily for my taste. In contrast, the banana cake that i’ve baked is soft and fluffy. The texture is similar to that of a sponge cake while the banana flavour is still intense. Personally, i have to say that my banana cake is better ( hehe ).
The original recipe is actually doubled and ment for a 8″ round cake pan and it requires almost an hour to bake them. Thinking to save time and electricity, i halved the amount and baked them in small cake cups. This greatly reduced the baking time and the little cakes came out cute.
Banana Walnut Cake
( makes 8 little cakes )
Ingredients:
80 g butter, softened
70 g sugar
1 egg
110 g cake flour
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp bicarbonate of soda
110 g banana, mashed ( ≈ 1 medium banana )
50 g plain yoghurt
1/4 tsp banana essence
40 g roasted walnuts, chopped
Method:
1. Beat butter and sugar until light and creamy.
2. Add in egg and beat until creamy and well blended.
3. Add in yoghurt,mashed banana, banana essence and mix well.
4. Fold in sifted cake flour, baking powder, bicarbonate of soda and chopped walnuts
and mix gently. Do not overmix.
5. Pour in cake mould and arrange walnuts on top.
6. Bake at 180°C for 20 minutes.
7. Remove from oven and place on cooling rack to cool.
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Hehe, i thought to try something different which is both easy to make and yummy to eat. This recipe is similar to what i saw in Nigella’s site, but i did some slight changes as i’m afraid her adding of peanut butter might turn of my brother, he doesn’t like peanut butter much.
Anyway, i did the cooking and it’s really fast, twenty minutes later, the meal was ready. I served half of it to little brother and he commented that it’s quite delicious, although he found it too bland and asked if i had forgotten to add salt. Hahaha.
Sesame Peanut Egg Noodle
( serves 2 )
Ingredients:
300 g cooked egg noodle
3 strips bacon, cut into thin strips
1/2 medium size red pepper, deseed and cut into thin strips
1/2 medium size green pepper, deseed and cut into thin strips
1/2 tbsp cooking oil
1 tsp white seeds, roasted
1 tsp coarse ground peanuts
Seasoning:
1 tsp lime juice
2 tbsp sugar
1 tbsp light soy sauce
2 tsp sesame oil
3 tbsp water
Method:
1. Mix all ingredients for seasoning and set aside.
2. Heat pan. Add cooking oil and bacon strips and saute until bacon turn crisp.
3. Add in green and red peppers and cook 1 minutes.
4. Add in cooked egg noodles, seasoning and toss 1 minutes.
5. Off heat. Transfer to plate and sprinkle with more sesame seeds to garnish and serve.
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I realised that i had developed a passion for patties, and had been making varieties of them. They are quite easy to make and i find it fun to drop spoonful of batter onto hot pan and watch them solidify into small patties. Besides, they are yummy to eat too!
Compared to the Pumpkin Croquettes that i’ve make, i like this pumpkin patties better as they gives more texture. Instead of grating the pumpkin as stated in the recipe, i decided to diced it so that the pumpkin will be more noticeable, and i used chicken mince rather that pork mince too.
The result is so satisfying that i couldn’t help but be pleased with myself. After the first test bite while still pan frying the rest of the patties, i gave myself a pat to the back. A job well done, if i say so myself.
Pumpkin Patties
Ingredients:
100 g chicken mince
300 g pumpkin, diced
1 egg
2 tbsp corn flour
1 tbsp chopped coriander
1 tbsp cooking oil
Marinate:
1 tbsp light soy sauce
2 tbsp rice wine
1/4 tsp ground white pepper
1/4 tsp 5 spice powder
Method:
1. Marinate minced chicken and set aside for 15 minutes.
2. Add in diced pumpkin, egg and corn flour. Mix to blend.
3. Heat 1 tbsp of oil in pan, ladle a spoonful of mixture and pan fry 2 minutes on each side
on medium low heat.
4. Remove to absorbent paper. Ready to serve.
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Recently i had developed a liking for prawns and had been cooking prawns quite frequently. Few dishes down, i discovered that prawns goes very well with tomato sauce. The slightly tart taste and sweetness from tomato enhanced the natural flavour of the prawns, making them a delightful dish to eat.
It is so scrumptious that i wonder why i resist cooking them before. The only reason i can think of is i find the effort of deshelling and deveining them a hassle. OMG! I never realised i’m such a lazy gal, shouldn’t the reward of having a delicious meal demand some work?
Hahaha … Truth to tell, after a few times of handling the raw prawns, me thinks that it’s actually not a tedious job. It just goes to say that ‘pratice makes perfect’. As long as one is willing, nothing is too difficult, heh?
Prawns in Tomato Sauce
Ingredients:
200 g uncooked prawns, deshell and devein
1 big tomato, cut into slice
1/2 medium size onion, cut into quarters
1/2 medium size green capsicum, deseed and cut into strips
1 tbsp cooking oil
1 tsp garlic, chopped finely
1/2 tsp salt
8 tbsp tomato sauce
50 ml water
Method:
1. Heat wok and add in oil, garlic, onion, green capsicum and salt to saute 2 minutes.
2. Add prawns and cook until prawns change colour.
3. Add in tomato slices, tomato sauce, water and stir to blend.
4. Off heat. Dish up, garnish with chopped spring onion and serve.
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A light and simple dish that’s a delight to enjoy. Like most Chinese home-cooked meal, it’s a dish that requires minimal effort and time to prepare. Personally, i think Chinese cooking is quite easy and flexible as it allow a wide variety of ingredients to come together and create a delicious dish.
In all my cooking practice, i like to mix and match many ingredients just for the fun of it. Sometimes, the reason may just because their colour look good together. Hahaha! And of course the result may differ, certain foods does goes well with others while some others tasted funny.
Well, one will never know until she try it, doesn’t she? I just have to sacrifice my family to be guinea pig. Hehe!
Fish Fillet with Tomato Slices
Ingredients:
200 g fish fillet, cut into slices
50 g sugar beans, remove ends and cut diagonally
50g preserved salted vegetable, cut into strips
1 tomato, cut into slices
1 tbsp cooking oil
1 tsp garlic oil
1/2 tsp salt
2 tsp sugar
150 ml water
1 tbsp rice vinegar
2 tsp cornstarch + 1 tsp water, for thickening
Method:
1. Heat cooking oil and garlic oil in wok, add in sugar beans and salted vegetables and
saute 1 minute. Add sugar and stir to mix.
2. Add in water and fish fillet and give a gentle stir to separate fish. Careful not to break
up fish fillet. Cook until fish change colour.
3. Add in salt and rice vinegar, stir to mix. Add in cornstarch mixture to thicken gravy.
4. Off heat. Dish up and serve.
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Whenever i’m baking cakes, i usually i like to do a little alteration. Recipes that normally uses larger cake pan will be substitute with smaller cake tins or even small muffin cups or tarts tins. I find them easier to bake in smaller portions and they only requires a fraction of the time to bake. The difference is just the added work of dividing them into small portion before baking in the oven. This way, i can save time and electricity. Hey, i too can play a part in saving Gaia.
Besides saving energy, i like baking small cute little delicacy purely because they are pleasing to the eye. They look so pretty and adorable and scrumptious! The best part is i can share them with friends and neighbours without having to cut them up and in the process making them unappealing.
Orange Butter Cake
Ingredients:
2 eggs, room temp.
120 g butter, softened
80 g sugar
150g cake flour
80 ml orange juice
2 orange zest
½ tsp orange paste
2 orange flesh, diced
Method:
1. Beat butter and sugar until pale and creamy.
2. Add eggs, one at a time, until well combined.
3. Sift flour, baking powder together and add into batter to mix.
4. Add orange juice, orange zest, orange paste and mix until just combined. Do not overmix.
5. Add in orange flesh and mix. Do not overmix.
6. Pour batter into muffin cups or small cake tins.
7. Bake at 180ºC for 20 minutes.
8. Remove from oven and let cake sit in tin for 10 minutes before transfer to wire rack
to cool completely.
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Had Fried Mee Hoon for Sunday lunch. I find it ironic that despite loving to eat fried mee hoon, i don’t like to cook it. Compared to other one dish meal that i’ve prepared, i think this dish only appears a handful of times. Not that it’s difficult to cook or time-consuming, truly it’s no different from cooking fried mee, it just rarely comes to my mind to cook it. Luckily, i can always have my Fried Mee Hoon on weekends mornings, bought from the neighbourhood coffee shops where they are nicely cooked and sold quite cheaply.
My Fried Mee Hoon recipe have an added ingredient ( i add in a can of canned pork leg with mushroom) that just produced some special flavour (in my opinion) that really satisfy my taste bud. To me, fried mee hoon and canned pork leg with mushroom are the best match, creating the most delicious flavour together.
Canned pork leg with mushroom
Here it is, the important ingredient i never do without when cooking fried mee hoon. Trust me, once you embark on this journey, you won’t ever want to go another way. It’s SO good!
… … I’m salivating already.
Fried Mee Hoon
( serves 7-8 )
Ingredients:
1 pkt mee hoon
1 can pork leg with mushroom
1oo g Chinese cabbage, shredded
6 medium size dried mushroom, soaked to soften and cut into strips
1 tbsp cooking oil
1 tsp garlic oil
200 ml hot water
3 tbsp oyster sauce
1 tbsp dark soy sauce
Method:
1. Put dry mee hoon into a large pot and fill with enough water to cover and soak 1 hr to soften.
Remove from water and use scissor to cut into shorter length. Set aside.
2. Open the can of pork leg with mushroom and separate gravy from meat. Shred meat and cut
mushroom into thin strips. Set aside.
3. Mix hot water with oyster sauce and dark soy sauce in a jug and set aside.
4. Heat wok, add cooking and garlic oil. Add in shredded soaked mushroom and Chinese
cabbage and stir-fry 1 minute.
5. Add in gravy from canned pork leg with mushroom and cook 3 minutes.
6. Add in mee hoon, oyster sauce mixture and mix carefully. Keep stirring until sauce has dry
up. Add in canned pork leg meat. Mix.
7. Off heat. Ready to serve.
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