Walnut Cake

Ingredients:-

146g butter
20g castor sugar
4 egg yolks
1 tsp vanilla essence
26g evaporated milk

94g cake flour
2g baking powder

66g walnut, finely chopped
20g chocolate rice

4 egg whites
80g sugar


Method:-

1) Sift cake flour and baking powder together. Set aside.
2) Add about 1 tbsp of sifted flour to walnut and chocolate rice. Mix well.
3) Cream butter and sugar till light and fluffy. Slowly add in egg yolks, evaporated milk and vanilla essence. Set aside.
4) Whip egg whites. Add sugar gradually till soft peak formed.
5) Alternating between flour and egg white, fold it into the creamed butter. Add walnut and chocolate rice last.
6) Pour batter into 2 disposable loaf tins. Bake at 160C for about 45 minutes or till cooked.

Steamed Pumpkin n Yum Cake

Ingredients:-

300g rice flour
50g tapioca flour
400g water, plus 750g hot water
100ml oil
80g dried shrimps, chopped
100g wax sausages, diced
250g yam, diced
400g pumpkin, diced
2 tsp salt
1 1/2 tbsp sugar
1 tsp 5-spice powder
1 tsp ground pepper
1 tsp sesame oil


Toppings:

fried shallots
chopped red chilli
chopped spring onion


Method:-

1) In a mixing bowl, mix both flours and water. Stir till all flour dissolve. Gradually add hot water and stir till u get a smooth paste. Set aside.
2) Heat oil in a wok and fry dried shrimps, wax sausages, yam and pumpkin till fragrant.
3) Add salt, sugar, 5-spice powder, ground pepper and sesame oil. Adjust to taste.
4) Add sauteed ingredients to flour paste. Mix well.
5) Pour mixture into a 25cm round tray and steam over medium fire for about 45 minutes.
6) Sprinkle topping over the steamed cake when done.


Notes:-

1) I usually place all my shrimps in a blander and blend it to fasten the chopping process.
2) If you don't like wax sausage, you can replace it with similar amount of roast pork. If not, just omit it.
3) Pepper can be reduced if you don't like it to be too have too much pepper taste.


[recipe from Food & Travel Magazine April 2007 issue]

Cream of Mushroom Soup with Puff Pastry

Ingredients:-

30g butter
1 tbsp plain flour
100g white button mushrooms (chopped)
100g Swiss mushroom / brown mushrooms (chopped)
1/2 cup stock
40ml fresh cream

Salt and Pepper to taste

1 egg yolk (beaten)
1 puff pastry sheet


Method:-

1) Melt butter in a pan. Add flour and stir till it turns yellowish then add in chopped mushrooms. Fry till mushrooms softens.
2) Add in stock slowly and allow it to boil before adding fresh cream. Season with salt and pepper.
3) Pour soup into over-proof bowl. Brush the edges with a little egg then cover bowl with puff pastry. Brush the surface with some egg. Poke some holes on the pastry before baking to prevent cracking.
4) Place in preheated oven of 220C and bake for 10 - 15 minutes or till pastry turn brown.


Notes:-

1) To get a smoother soup, you can blend the soup in a blender before pouring into the bowl. Alternative, you can minced up the mushrooms instead.
2) For richer soup, add more cream. Add cream to the consistency of your liking.


[adapted recipe from Cooking for Kids by Pancy Seng]

Red Wine Sorbet

Ingredients:-

1 (750ml) bottle red wine of your choice

1 tbsp gelatin powder

5 - 6 large strawberries

Sugar, for sweetening

Method:-

1) Pour red wine into a pot, place pot over stove and turn on heat.

2) While the wine is heating up, sprinkle gelatin powder into red wine when you see steam surfacing.

3) After a quick stir, add in strawberries and wait for mixture to boil. Boil for about 20 - 25 minutes.

4) Add sugar while mixture is boiling. Sweeten to taste.

5) Cool mixture before pouring into a container and freeze overnight.

6) Place frozen mixture into a blender and give it a good blend.

7) Pour blended mixture back into container or into individual serving cups and freeze it again.

8) You can serve the sorbet once mixture had harden up again.

Kueh Dadar

Ingredients:-

Skin:

150g plain flour
1/4 tsp salt
2 small eggs, beaten
150ml thin coconut milk
100ml pandan juice
65ml water
1 tbsp corn oil

Oil for greasing pan

Filling:

150g palm sugar, roughly chopped
113ml water
2 pandan leaf, knotted
150g grated coconut


Method:-

1) To make filling:- Place palm sugar and water in a pan and cook until sugar dissolves. Simmer for 10 minutes until liquid starts to thicken and become syrupy.
2) Add pandan leaf and grated coconut. Continue to cook over low heat for 10 - 15 minutes until the coconut filling is thick and glossy. Most of the liquid should have evaporated. Cool and use as desired.
3) To make skin:- Sift flour and salt into a medium bowl. Make a well in the centre and pour in the eggs, coconut milk and pandan juice using a wooden spoon or balloon whisk making a smooth batter free from lumps.
4) Thin the batter down with the additional 65ml of water and stir in the oil. Mix well. Cover bowl and allow batter to stand for 20 - 30 minutes.
5) Heat a small frying pan over medium heat. Grease pan lightly.
6) Stir batter and pour a scope of batter into the pan. Rotate pan immediately so that the batter covers the base in a thin layer. Flip the skin over and allow the other side to cook.
7) Placed cooked skin onto a plate and continue to complete the rest of the batter. The batter tends to thicken as time pass. Thin it down with some water if necessary.
8) Place a spoonful of filling in the centre of the pancake and fold bothe side towards the middle and roll the pancake away from you, neatly enclosing the filling.

Beef Cubes with Red Wine

Ingredients:-

200g beef fillet
100g green and red bell pepper, diced
1/2 tsp soy sauce

1/2 tsp sugar

1 - 2 tbsp red wine
Some cornstarch mixed with water

Oil, for frying

A pinch of salt

A pinch of sugar

A pinch of black pepper

Corn flour for dusting

Roasted pine nuts

Method:-

1) Cut beef fillet into cubes. Add some salt, sugar, black pepper and corn flour, mix well.

2) In a wok, heat a little oil and fry the beef cubes till they are almost cooked. Set aside.

3) In the same wok, add bell peppers, fry for 2 - 3 minutes before adding the beef cubes. Fry till well combined.

4) Add soy sauce, red wine, sugar and some cornstarch. Fry and mix well.

5) Toss in pine nuts and serve immediately.

[recipe from Food & Travel Magazine Janurary 2009 issue]

Pineapple n Chicken

Ingredients:-

100g chicken breast meat

50g carrot

50g small cucumber

50g pineapple

1/4 tsp corn starch

A dash of salt

Method:-

1) Dice chicken mean and mash with the back of knife. Mix well with corn starchn salt.

2) Rinse and dice carrot and cucumber.

3) Soak pineapple in salt water and drain the dice.

4) Cook chicken in a pot with enough water to cover chicken.

5) Add all other ingredients and cook well. Cook for about 15 minutes or till carrots are soft.

6) Serve with rice.

Note:-

1) Chicken nourishes the vital energy and strengthens the body and bones. Regular intake boosts baby's immunity.
2) Pineapple contains enzymes, thus it must be soaked in salt water first so that it will not irritates baby's tongue.


[adapted recipe from Nutritious Food for Baby & Toddler]

Mango Strawberry Bruschetta

Ingredients (Serves 4):-

Bread of your choice, sliced

6 tbsp light brown sugar
1 tsp grated lemon zest
2 tsp lemon juice

1 cup sliced or diced strawberries
1 cup diced mango


Method:-

1) Heat skillet over high heat. Add sugar, lemon zest and lemon juice. Stir constantly and cook ingredients until sugar melts and and mixture begins to bubble. Approximate time, 30 seconds to 1 minute.
2) Add strawberries and still until juice begins to exude and berries are heated through, roughly about 30 seconds to 1 minute.
3) Add mango, give it a quick stir and remove from heat.
4) To serve, toast sliced bread and top with berries and mango. Garnish with mint if desire.


Note:-

1) You can spread mascarpone cheese for the extra flavour.
2) Topping can be served warm or chilled. Personally, I prefer the toppings to be chilled.
3) Topping can be kept covered and refrigerated for up to 2 days or frozed for up to 1 month. To rehead, microwave on High for about 1 minute (defrost first, if necessary).


[recipe from Food & Travel Magazine December 2008 issue]

Perfect Roast Beef

Ingredients (Serves 6):-

1 - 1.5 kg beef striploin or ribeye roast
1 tbsp coarse sea salt
1 tbsp ground black pepper
2 tbsp olive oil


Method:-

1) Remove beef from fridge at least 30 minutes beforehand.
2) Preheat oven to 180 C.
3) Mix salt, pepper and olive oil in a bowl. Rub seasoning into the beef and place it in a roasting tin with an oven-proof meat thermometer inserted into its thickest part.
4) Slip the tray into the oven and start cooking. Cooking time varies from 1 - 1.5 hours depending on how you want your beef.
5) When done, remove from oven and let meat rest for 10 minutes before carving.


Note:-

1) Very Rare - 49 C - blood red in the centre and barely warm.
2) Rare - 52 C - red in the centre and warm throughout
3) Medium Rare - 55 C to 57 C - pinkish red in the centre and fairly hot
4) Medium - 60 C to 63 C - pink in the centre, greyish brown surrounding, hot throughout.
5) Medium Well - 66 C to 68 C - greyish brown centre, only a trace of pink.
6) Well Done - 71 C - grey in the centre.
7) Because you are roasting a whole piece of beef, you will get different doneness depending on which part of the beef you cut. The outer pieces will be more cooked compared to those in the middle.


[recipe from Food & Travel Magazine June 2008 issue]