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Monday, August 23, 2010

Broccoli with Mushrooms


My easy version of broccoli with mushrooms!

Ingredients:
Broccoli (cut into small pieces) - 1
Dried shiitake mushrooms -10-12
Onion (sliced thinly) - 1/4
Garlic (chopped) - 2 cloves
Oyster sauce - 2 tbsp
Pepper to taste

Soak the mushroom in hot water for 15 minutes.
Blanch the broccoli in some hot water for 3 minutes. Remove and set aside.
Saute onions and garlic in a little oil.
Add in broccoli and mushrooms. Stir awhile before adding oyster sauce and pepper.
Continue to stir until everything is well mixed. Dish out and serve!


Mixed Vegetables

I like to make my mix vege as colorful as possible. I used carrots, cauliflower, cabbage, corn and mushrooms this time. You can also add broccoli, capsicum and chilies. They say different colors of vegetables contain different nutrients and is therefore more healthier! :)



Ingredients:
Carrot - 1
Cauliflower -1/2
Cabbage - 1/3
Baby corn - 4
Mushrooms - 5-6
*all the above, cut into small pieces
Onion (sliced thinly) -1/2
Garlic (sliced) - 3-4 cloves
Ginger (slice thinly) - 1tbsp
Oyster sugar
Salt to taste
Pepper to taste

Saute the onions, garlic and ginger in a little oil. Add in all the vegetables and stir-fry briefly before adding oyster sauce, salt and pepper. I like my vegetables a bit crunchy, so i take them out in about 3-4 minutes.


Sunday, August 22, 2010

Chili Prawns

Made this for dinner today. A quick and easy dish!


Ingredients:
Prawns - 15-20
Onion (sliced) - 1
Garlic (cut into strips) - 3 cloves
Ginger (sliced) - 2 tbsp
Dried chilies (cut into 1 inch length) - 5-7
Soy sauce - 1 tbsp
Icing sugar - 1 tsp
Chinese cooking wine - 1 tbsp
Salt to taste
Pepper to taste
Spring onions to garnish

Heat some oil and stir fry the prawns till they turn pink. Add onions, garlic, ginger and dried chilies. Continue to stir till fragrant.
Add soy sauce, cooking wine, salt and pepper. Stir well before adding in a dash of icing sugar.
Dish out and garnish with some spring onions.

Saturday, August 21, 2010

Hot and Spicy Tempeh

My aunt's maid prepared this dish last week. I liked it so much, I had to stop myself from finishing everybody elses' share.
For those not familiar with tempeh, tempeh is made by fermenting soy beans into a cake form. Normally cooked chopped or crumbled, it is known to contain high sources of protein and is suitable for vegetarians.
I attempted kakak's version of tempeh at home today.
A very, very simple recipe! You can whip this dish up in about 15 minutes.



Ingredients:
Tempeh
(cut into small pieces) - 2
Bird's eye chili - 5-6
Onions (sliced thinly) - 1
Garlic (chopped) - 3 cloves
Thick soy sauce - 1 tsp
Sugar - 1 tsp
Salt to taste

Heat some oil in a pan and fry the tempeh. Set aside.
Sautee onions, garlic and bird's eye chili in a little oil until fragrant.
Put in the tempeh and stir. Add sugar, thick soy sauce and a little salt.
Continue to stir until everything is well mixed.
Dish out and serve with some warm rice!



P.S: Please excuse the blur photos. Photos were taken using my handphone.

Sunday, August 15, 2010

Chocolate Cake

My 2nd attempt on a cake. I was satisfied with the outcome and everybody seemed to like it. Here's the recipe I used:


Ingredients:
Butter - 250g
Castor sugar - 1 3/4 cups
Eggs - 5
Vanilla essence - 1/2 tsp
Cocoa powder - 3/4 cup
Cake flour - 2 cups
Sodium bicarbonate - 1/2 tsp
Chocolate milk - 1 cup

Chocolate glaze:
Semi-sweet chocolate chips - 1/2 cup
Confectioner's sugar - 1 cup
Butter - 6 tsp
Vanilla essence - 1/2 tsp
Milk - 1/2 cup

Beat butter and sugar until fluffy with a hand mixer.
Add eggs one by one, followed by vanilla essence.
Reduce mixer speed and add cake flour, cocoa powder and sodium bicarbonate.
Add chocolate milk to the mixture and mix until batter is smooth.
Heat the oven at 180'C for 5 minutes. Grease the cake pan with some butter and flour.
Pour mixture into the cake pan and bake for 45 minutes.
Once cake is done, remove from oven and leave to cool.
To prepare glaze, heat sugar, semi-sweet chocolate chips, butter, vanilla essence and milk using a double boiler. Stir till it forms a smooth mixture. Pour over cake and leave to set.
Slice cake and serve.


Saturday, August 14, 2010

Lemon Cake

I somehow never liked baking. The only baking I've done so far have been under my mom's supervision (she makes great cakes by the way). Today, at 2.30 am, I tried my luck baking a cake on my own. And I so regret it. It didn't turn out as expected. I used some recipe I found online. Maybe I should have used my mother's tried and tested recipe instead. Sigh! Oh well, here's the picture of my cake.



Please don't laugh..

Updated:
More photos of my lemon cake. I didn't ice the entire cake yesterday. My family said the cake was actually quite good so I iced the remainder today.





Jelly

Made some jelly last weekend. I'm too lazy to post a detailed recipe for this. So, basically... the red layer is agar-agar + sugar + water. Pink layer is agar-agar + sugar + water + coconut milk and the white layer is agar-agar + sugar + lil' salt + coconut milk. Don't forget to use screwpine (pandan) leaves while boiling the agar-agar. Enjoy the pictures!






Friday, August 13, 2010

Cashew Chicken

A simple Chinese-American dish that calls for two simple ingredients: cashew nuts and chicken :)


Ingredients:
Chicken (cut into small pieces) - 1
Cashew nuts - 10-15
Mushrooms (sliced) - 5
Onion (cut into wedges) - 1
Ginger (cut into strips) - 3 tbsp
Garlic (chopped) - 2 cloves
Dried chilies (cut into 1-inch lengths) - 2
Soy sauce - 1 tbsp
Oyster sauce - 3 tbsp
Cornstarch - 1 1/2 tsp
Chinese cooking wine - 2 tbsp
Salt to taste
Pepper to taste

Marinate chicken with soy sauce, oyster sauce and cornstarch and set aside.
Heat some oil over medium heat and stir fry cashews until golden brown. Remove and keep them separately.
Add in onions, ginger, garlic and dried chilies into the oil and stir until fragrant.
Add marinated chicken and stir fry until chicken is no longer pink.
Put in the mushrooms and stir briefly before adding cooking wine.
Season with salt and pepper and let gravy boil and thicken.
Once chicken is cooked, add in the cashew nuts and stir.
Dish out and serve with warm rice.

Monday, August 9, 2010

Bombay Potatoes

A simple dish which is great to have with some chappatis.



Ingredients:
Potatoes (cut into small pieces) - 3-4
Onions -2
Green chilies - 2
Dried red chilies (cut into 1 inch lengths) - 2
Fresh coriander - 1 cup
Turmeric - 1 tsp
Curry leaves - 6-8
Asafoetida - 1/4 tsp
Cumin - 1/2 tsp
Mustard - 1/2 tsp
Fennel - 1/2 tsp
Salt to taste

Chop the onions and chilies finely, and coarsely chop the coriander leaves.
Boil the potatoes in water with a little salt and turmeric powder for 10-15 minutes. Once tender, mash them a little and set aside.
Heat oil in a frying pan and fry the curry leaves, onions, chilies, dried chilies, coriander and turmeric powder. Add asafoetida, cumin, mustard and fennel seeds. Stir until onions are soft.
Add the potatoes with a few drops of water. Add salt and cook over low heat for about 10 minutes, stirring well to ensure spices are well mixed.
Serve immediately with some warm chappatis.

Sweet, Sour and Spicy Tofu

Whenever I'm on a vegetarian diet, this dish comes to my mind.

Ingredients:
Tofu - 3 (cut into squares)
Onion (sliced) - 1
Garlic (chopped) - 3 cloves
Bird's eye chili (chopped) - 2
Chili sauce - 5 tbsp
Plum sauce - 3 tbsp
Oyster sauce - 1 tbsp
Water - 1/8 cup
Salt to taste
Pepper to taste



Fry the squared tofu in some oil and set aside on paper towels.
Sautee the onions, garlic and bird's eye chili in a pan until fragrant.
Add in the chili sauce, plum sauce, oyster sauce and water.
Season with salt and pepper, and let the gravy simmer.
Add in the tofu and stir until the gravy thickens a little.
Dish out and serve with some warm rice.


Thursday, August 5, 2010

Simple Breakfast

During the weekends, when I'm to lazy to make anything elaborate for breakfast, this is what I come up with...


TADAAA!

For the baked beans, I sautee some onions, add in the baked beans and season with some pepper. Don't think you'd need recipes for the rest :)

Wednesday, August 4, 2010

Honey Lemon Chicken

Honey lemon chicken aka Orange chicken is a famous dish at Chinese restaurants. I tried to make them at home and it turned out quite well. A little too brown for my liking tho :) Recipe adapted from MyKitchenSnippets with some changes.


Ingredients:
Chicken breast (cut to small pieces)
Salt - 1/2 tsp
Pepper - 1/2 tsp
Egg white - 1
Cornstarch - 1/2 cup
Sesame oil - 1/2 tbsp

Sauce:
Orange juice - 1/2 cup
Lemon juice - 1/2 cup
Water - 1/2 cup
Oyster sauce - 1 tbsp
Soy sauce - 3 tbsp
Honey - 2 tbsp
Sugar - 1 tbsp
Cornstarch - 1 tsp
Pepper flakes
Ginger (grated) - 1 tsp
Garlic (chopped) - 1 clove

Marinate chicken with salt, egg, pepper, egg white and sesame oil for 1/2 an hour.
Coat the chicken in cornstarch and deep fry until golden brown. Drain on paper towel and set aside.
Mix orange juice, lemon juice, water, oyster sauce, soy sauce, sugar, corn starch and pepper in a bowl.
Heat some oil in a pan and add ginger and garlic. Stir briefly and pour the prepared sauce in. Let it simmer awhile before adding in the chicken pieces.
Continue to simmer until sauce thickens. Check sweetness level and add more sugar if desired.
Dish out and serve.




Stir-fried Mushrooms

When I first started cooking, I only cooked vegetable dishes. Mom would make the curry and meat dishes, and I'd prepare a simple vege dish. This is one of my family's favourite.

Ingredients:
Oyster mushrooms - 1 packet
Onions (sliced thinly) - 1/2
Garlic (chopped) - 3 cloves
Dried chillies - 3
Curry leaves (cut into 1 inch lengths) - 5-6
Turmeric powder - 1 tsp
Mustard seeds - 1/2 tsp
Salt to taste

Heat some ghee (alternatively, you could also use vegetable oil) in a frying pan and add in the mustard seeds followed by onions, garlic, dried chillies and curry leaves. Stir briefly, then add turmeric powder and salt.
Add mushrooms and stir occasionally until the mushrooms are cooked. Dish out and serve!


Monday, August 2, 2010

Fried Chicken

I still haven't mastered the art of frying chicken well :( I like my chicken to be juicy and tender inside with a crispy crust, but my versions somehow end up a tad bit dry. Guess I'll just have to keep trying! Here's my fried chicken recipe..



Chicken pieces - 10-15 (I like to keep the pieces small, but it's really up to you.)
Onion - 1/2
Ginger (crushed) - 1 tbsp
Turmeric powder - 1 tbsp
Chili powder - 2 tbsp
Thick coconut milk - 1/8 cup
Curry leaves
Salt
Pepper

Blend the onions and ginger into a paste. Mix all the ingredients with the chicken pieces and keep aside. Heat up some oil and deep fry them until golden brown.



Updated: Someone told me that the secret to tender juicy fried chicken is the oil temperature. The oil has to be really hot but not too hot that it burns the chicken. :)

Spicy Meal-maker

I had 2 of my colleagues over for lunch on Sunday. Since one is a vegetarian, we had mostly vegetarian dishes. Mom prepared most of it. I only made some Indian styled soy meal-maker and fried chicken. Anyway, after lunch they wanted to go for a walk around the estate. So of course, being the host I had to go along. My friends were going on and on about how beautiful the place was.. Never received so many compliments about the place I live before :D Managed to take a few photos before heading home for some cut watermelon.
Two pics from our estate 'tour' followed by the meal-maker recipe!

It's been ages since I walked along these paths..



Ingredients:
Meal maker - 1/4 packet
Potato (cubed thinly) - 2
Onion - 1
Garlic - 3 cloves
Ginger (crushed) - 1 tbsp
Chili powder - 2 tbsp
Turmeric powder - 1 tbsp
Curry leaves
Cumin - 1 tsp
Fennel - 1 tsp
Cinnamon - 1" piece
Water - 1/2 cup
Salt
Pepper



Soak the meal-maker in some warm water. Once soft, squeeze the water out and keep aside.
Blend onions, garlic, ginger, cumin, fennel and cinnamon into a paste.

Heat some oil in a wok and stir fry the blended ingredients until fragrant.
Add salt, pepper and some water and stir. Put in the potatoes.
Once the potatoes are almost cooked, add in the meal-maker.
Continue to stir until everything is well cooked.

Lower the flame and check for salt levels. Dish out and garnish with some curry leaves.



Tips on preparing meal-maker from Edible Garden:
- To remove the 'stink' present in soy chunks which some of you may not like, add some minced garlic and boil in water for 5 mins. Cool, squeeze out extra water and use as above.
- Soak those nuggets in a bowl of hot water, along with 3-4 spoons of milk - that takes away the raw soy taste and leaves the soy nuggets creamy and smooth.