My Kitchen and Me

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!

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.

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.

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. Ph...

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...

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.

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!

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 an...

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.

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.

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 :)

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 awhil...

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!

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. :)

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 k...