Tuesday, November 30, 2010

Grated Coconut Sifone Cake



Mold-Fluted tube pan

Ingredients (A):
1 cup grated coconut
1 teaspoons salt

Ingredients (B):
7 eggs
2/3 cup sugar
¾ cup cake flour
2 tablespoons oil
1 teaspoons salt
2-3 drops vanilla extract
2-3 drop green coloring (or any color of your choice)

Methods:

Grease the pan. Mix the ingredients (A) together and press it firmly at the bottom of the fluted tube pan.

Using two clean mixing bowls, separate the egg white and egg yolks. Combine sugar and egg white; beat it high using an electronic hand mixer until it becomes thick, white and fluffy. After that, stir in egg yolks. Add in cake flour slowly and mix well. Lastly, put in salt, oil, vanilla extract and green coloring. Mix well using hand mixer at low beat.

Transfer the batter into the fluted tube pan (contains grated coconut at the bottom).

Bake at 350 F for 30-40 minutes or until golden brown. You can use a toothpick or chopstick insert into the cake, if it comes out clean and nonstick, then the cake is consider well cook.


***First Formal Thanksgiving Dinner***

Hi all! This is my first formal thanksgiving dinner happened at my own home. It was a tiring day since i prepared TWELVE different dishes including drink and dessert just for the dinner.

Here are the lists of the meals that i had prepared on thanksgiving dinner.
1) Turkey with gravy and craberry sauce
2) Mash potato
3) Bake potato
4) Green bean casserole
5) Stir-fry onion
6) Corn
7) Vegetable soup
9) Blackberry cranberry mini pies
10) Crescent rolls
11) Cup cake with cream + cocoa powder
12) Lemonade

My sister in law brought home made sausage with two different flavors- spicy and non-spicy, pumpkin ball and apple pie.

The sausages tasted good. We did not manage to eat the apple pie since we were too full after that.

Now it is pictures time :-) The color of the turkey looked just right !!!



Saturday, November 20, 2010

Stuff mushroom

Ingredients:
Lobster imitate meat, groud pork, green onion, salt.

Mix all the ingredients together and stuff into mushroom. Bake at 350 F until well cooked.


Birthday Cake

This is the birthday cake that i made for myself on my birthday! I think it looks great! I feel satisfied with it.

Friday, November 19, 2010

Roll Cake~蛋糕卷

This roll cake tastes amazing.. just like the birthday cake that i used to eat. The skin is not perfect, as i did not roll in onto a piece of cloth ( i could not find one at the time i made it :-( ), the aluminium foil peel some of the skin off.

Thanks for maomaoma kitchen for sharing this dedicate cake ... .... ...i will post a better looking roll cake the next time i make it again !! Leave me some feedback if you do like this cake !


Second trial, look, it supposed to look this way, without the peel off skin.
Ingredients:
1)      3 egg yolks, one whole egg, Rum one teaspoon, sugar ¼ cup, corn oil ¼ cup, milk ¼ cup
2)      All purpose flour 6 tablespoons, corn starch 3 tablespoons, baking powder ¾ teaspoons, mix together.
3)      3 egg white, sugar ¼ cups, white vinegar ½ teaspoon
4)      Heavy whipping cream, vanilla extract 2-3 drops, milk ½ cups
5)      Fruit (of your choice, can be Kiwi (1), strawberry(2-3)
Methods:
In a two clean mixing bowl, put egg yolks, whole egg and rum into one of the clean bowl.

A)     In another bowl, put the egg white and white vinegar. Using a hand mixer beat the egg white. While beating, slowly add in sugar. Beat the egg white until white and fluffy.

After that, beat the egg yolks mixture, and while beating, add in sugar slowly. Beat till the mixture is white and fluffy. Stir in corn oil, beat for 2 minutes. Then, stir in corn milk. Beat for another 2 minutes or until well combined.

B)      Put the #2 ingredient into the egg yolks mixture slowly. Mix well.

Combine A and B, do not over stir, gently mix them together.
Pour the mixture into a rectangular baking pan and bake at 350 F preheat oven. It takes roughly 20 minutes to bake. You can use a toothpick to insert into the cake. If it comes out moist, then the cake is not done yet.

When the cake is done, lay the cake onto a piece of cloth, and roll it while still warm. Let it sit to cool down.

While waiting for the cake to cool down, beat the ingredient #4 till white, fluffy and a bit harden. Mix it with desire fruit.

Unroll the cake and spread the cream all around, then roll it back again.

Put in refrigerator and serve it cold. I always found that it is taste best when cold. But you do not need to cool it if you prefer warm cake.


Thursday, November 18, 2010

Free Thanksgiving Recipe book for download!!!!

Sirius Satellite Radio is providing free thanksgiving recipe book for download. Don't miss out!!

http://www.sirius.com/thanksgiving

Thanksgiving is no long a headache! You can sort through the recipe and pick few, and before you know, all the delicious dishes are in front of you :-)

Wednesday, November 17, 2010

Egg tart

Egg tart has been my favourite for a long time. But the more importantly is not the egg itself. I am in love with the shell which is so crunchy.
Recipe adopted from Rasa Malaysia and Betty Crocker, being modified by myself to suit my needs. If you do not want to make the crust, you can always buy the ready made Pepperidge Farm Puff Pastry. All you need to do is unroll it, then cut into round shape and push into the muffin mold.

Ingredients:

Pie Crust
2 cups of all purpose flour
2/3 cups of shortening
1 teaspoon of salt
4-6 tablespoons of cold water
3 tablespoons melt butter

Note: To save some time in making pie crust, you can buy a box of Betty Crocker pie crust mix, follow the instructions on the box and REMEMBER to add 3 tablespoons of melt butter to the pie crust mix.

Fillings
4 egg yolks
1/3 cups of sugar (adjustable depends on your taste)
1/3 cup heavy whipping cream
1/3 cup milk
3 drops of vanilla extract

Methods:

To make the pie crust, combine the all purpose flour, salt and shortening in a mixing bowl. Using hand presser or hand, mix the flour and shortening together until it forms small pea. Put in the melt butter. Sprinkle with water, one tablespoons at a time, tossing with fork until all flour is moistened and pastry almost leave side of bowl (1 or 2 tablespoons of water can be added if neccessary). Form the pastry into a ball.

On a floured surface, roll the pastry and cut into 10 balls. Set aside.

To make the fillings, combine all the fillings ingredients and mix well. Set aside.

Preheat the oven to 400 F. Grease the muffin pan.

Flatten the divided balls into small round and fit them well into the muffin pan by pressing firmly at the bottom and side. Do not over press or stretch.

Fill the pie dough with egg mixture, about 80% full.

Bake the egg tart at 400F for 15-20 minutues or until lightly brown. The time is vary depends on your oven.

Enjoy!

Note: I prefer to put the muffin paper cup into the muffin pan instead of grease the muffin pan, the egg tart is easily removed in this way.

I have made cantonese style egg tart that inspire from Christine's Kitchen.

Her tips were bake the egg tart till the filling become big and bubbling in the center, then open the door of the oven and let bake till the tart is done. Let it cool down at the oven with door open to prevent the filling shrink.

Tuesday, November 16, 2010

Make your own sweater

Create your own sweater at kcaiholidaycard.com
It is fun and you can print out the pictures or save it at your desktop. It is great for children making holiday card and send it to someone they love!!!

Strawberry Muffin

Muffin is one of my favourite cake. This recipe yield a very good aromatic muffin. Try it out! Instead of strawberry, you can put in any fruit of your choice.
Source: Rasa Malaysia

Ingredients:
1 1/2 cup all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 cup sugar
1/2 stick unsalted butter (4 tablespoons or 60 grams), melted and cooled
1 large egg, beaten
3/4 cup plus 2 teaspoon milk
1 1/2 cups strawberry


Method:
Preheat oven to 400 degree F. Line a muffin pan with 10 paper muffin cups or spray with non-stick cooking spray. Fill empty cups halfway with water (this makes the muffins moist).
Sift the flour, baking powder, and salt into a large bowl. Stir in the sugar. In another bowl, together the melted butter, egg, and milk. You can also use an electronic hand mixer. Pour the wet ingredients over the dry ingredients and whisk until just blended (mixture should be slightly lumpy).
Add the blackberries to a bowl and stir them in just enough to combine.
Divide the batter evenly among the prepared muffins cups. Bake the blackberry muffins until golden, for about 20-25 minutes. Remove the blackberry muffins from the pan and transfer to a wire rack to cool. Blackberry muffins are best served warm.

Bake Pork Ribs~烤排骨

I always found that pork ribs are hard to cook, especially if you want the meat to be soft..it always takes a long time to cook till the meat is tender and soft.

But this time i am going to bake the pork ribs insprired from Maomaoma kitchen.

Methods:

In a bowl, combine the honey, salt, vinegar (black color one), shallot, one tablespoon brown sugar and soy sauce. Rub it onto the ribs. Cover with foil and put into refrigerator. Let stand for 3 hours or overnight would be the best.

After marinate, put some paprika powder on top of the ribs to make it looks nice. (Note: paprika powder is not spice, if you wish to have a spicy ribs, use other chilli powder).

Preheat the oven to 425F. Bake till the ribs is done. (Normally one hour)
Looks good, isn't it? The color just perfect.

Roast Chicken stuff with glutinous rice

I was thinking to roast a chicken (cornish hen, a small chicken that can get from Walmart or Aldi). But then, i felt that it was too plain just to bake it. Thus i decided to put some stuffing in it. Finallt, i decided to stuff with glutinous rice.

First, i soak the glutinous rice for at least 6 hours. Then mix with mushroom, shallot and salt to taste.
For the chicken, i marinate it with italian spice, black pepper and salt.

Stuff the finished glutinous rice into the chicken. Wrap with aluminium foil and bake at 350 F for 40 minutes. Different oven may vary baking time, adjust your time accordingly.

It tasted good, just the outcome was abit ugly :-(

Pineapple tarts/shortcakes


 
This tart normally made during Chinese New Year. I miss the traditional CNY at my country. We normally have a lot of kuih, biscuits and tarts/shortcake served around the time of year. I really miss the way how I celebrated the CNY with my family back home. The atmosphere is so merry and exciting!! You get to see relatives and friends that you normally won’t see that often especially after graduate from school.


Another version of pineapple tart- this is an EASY and time saving version. Thanks to Lily Wai Sek Hong blog.

Pineapple fillings/ jam:
2 can of crushed pineapple
3/4 -1 cup of sugar
Cinnamon stick/ star anise (optional)

Drain the water of the crushed pineapple, then put it into a big glass bowl. Mix with sugar and cinnamon stick/ star anise. Microware for 5 minutes, then stir. Microwave for another 5 minutes, stir. Repeat until the pineapple looks thicken. Cool it down for later use.

Tart dough:
51/2 cup of all purpose flour
One egg
4 sticks cold butter ( 1 Ibs) - do not melt it or soften, cut into small pieces
120ml water (adjust as you knead the dough)
Few drops of vanilla extract (optional)

Combine all the above ingredients except water. Mix the flour with the butter until it forms small pea size. Add in water slowly until it forms a workable dough. Let it cool in the refrigerator for 30 minutes. After cooling, the dough should be easy to handle. I roll the dough into a big piece and then cut it into small square piece. Then, i took a small portion of the pineapple jam and place at the center of the dough. Close all the edges together and shape it. You can use a stick to draw the lines so that it looks like pineapple or use a scissor to cut out the pattern.
________________________________________________________________________________
Adapted from Rasa Malaysia
(Makes 24 tarts)


Ingredients:
For the pasty filling:
2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
2 sticks butter/8 oz./1 cup/225 grams 1/4 teaspoon salt
2 egg yolks
4 tablespoons confectioners’ sugar/icing sugar
2 tablespoons cornstarch
1 tablespoon vegetable shortening (optional but it will make the tarts extra crumbly)
1 egg yolk (lightly beaten for egg wash)
For the pineapple filling:
2 cans (20 oz can) sliced pineapples (I used fresh pineapple)
10 tablespoons sugar (more or less to taste)
1 teaspoon cornstarch (mixed with 1 teaspoon water)
Method:
Using low to medium heat, cook the drained crushed pineapple and sugar until most liquid has evaporated, and the filling turned golden. Stirring constantly using a wooden spoon to avoid burning. Taste, and add more sugar when needed. Add in the cornstarch to thicken the mixture. Set aside and let it cool in the fridge.
Combine the flour, corn flour, salt and sugar into a medium bowl. Beat butter in a mixer until it turns light in color and fluffy. Add in egg yolks until well combined. Slowly beat in the flour mixture until just combined.
Divide the pastry dough and pineapple filling each into 24 equal rounds. Flatten the pastry dough with the palms and put the pineapple filling in the middle and use the dough to cover the filling. Use your palms to round it up and then shape it into a roll about 1.5 inch long. Use a fork to make criss-cross patterns on the tart and then brush it with the egg wash.
Preheat the oven for 350F and bake for 20-25 minutes or until light brown.
Note:
To reduce the time to cook the pineapple, drain some water of the pineapple after crushing it.

Monday, November 15, 2010

Chocolate

A big box of chocolate, bought last year after valentine!!



Deep fry bread/Ham Chin Peng




When i saw this bread at "little corner of mine" post, my mouth was watering. It has been many years i do not eat this bread..i manage to get plain one here but not with red bean paste, plus it is not as crispy as this one.

I decided to make this bread at that very weekend. Amazingly, it turned out great! The skin was crispy... every bite just like the old days...so deliciousssssssssssssssssssssssssss!!

Ask for recipe if you are interested in it!

Kuih sago

Adopted from http://www.bestfreeonlinerecipes.com/page/3/
This kuih is yummy.. i have been craving for it for a long time. Finally, i made it. You can add some coloring depends on what color you like to the sago when you saok it in water.

Ingredients A:
½ grated coconut
½ tsp salt
Ingredients B (wash, soak for 60 minutes, drain):
300g pearl sago
Ingredient C:
160g sugar
1 tbsp corn flour
2 tsp pandan juice (thick) -i do not have pandaan juice, so i use vanilla extract
¼ tsp vanilla oil
Method:
  1. Mix the grated coconut and salt well. Set aside.
  2. Wash the pearl sago and soak for 60 minutes and drain.
  3. Mix the soaked pearl sago with ingredients C.
  4. Grease the steaming tray and pour in the pearl sago and steam for 20 minutes.
  5. When cooled, cut into small pieces and roll in the grated coconut.
 * I forgot to take a picture of it , i will post the picture next time i made.

Sesame ball

My husband loves to eat sesame ball, but he found that it is kind of expansive to buy and eat everytime. So, he was persuading me to make this. I tried, it turns out ok, not as good as the sell one. I am not so sure how people can make the sesame ball so large and pluffy. Mine one is small, and pluffy ... but it is not exactly the same that you buy at the bakery store or dim sum restaurant.

It is easy to make though, not hard.

Ingredients:

Glutinous rice flour
White sesame seed
Red bean paste
Wheat starch
1 tablespoonSugar

* Glutinous rice flour : wheat starch = 8:1
Methods:

Mix the glutinous rice flour, wheat starch and sugar. Stir in water until it form a dough (Note: do not form a wet dough, it is hard to shape later on).
Divide the dough into several portions. Do the same with the red bean paste and form a small ball.
Flatten the small portion of dough, put in the red bean paste. Seal it nicely.
In a bowl, put in the sesame seed. Roll the finished dough onto the sesame seed. Set aside and do the same for the rest of the dough.
Heat the oil in a big pan. Deep fry until golden brown and serve.

Grape Tomato

My last year grape tomato, since i am moving to the new house this year, i hardly plant anything. Maybe next summer, i will plant something.

Sushi Roll

Sushi is easy to make, the only thing is you have to prepare fresh ingredients.
I love to eat sushi, but the sushi that sell in the store is very expansive. Thus, i decided to prepare myself and eat as much as i want ... hu hu hu...

Ingredients:

Artificial crab meat
Egg
Cucumber
or any other ingredients of your choice
Seaweed sheet
3 cups of rice (adjust depends on how much sushi you wish to make)
1/2 cup of sushi vinegar
1 teaspoon of salt
3 tablespoon of sugar (adjustable depends on your taste)

Methods:

1) Cook the rice and let it cool down.
2) In a pot, stir in sushi vinegar, salt and sugar. Cook until all melt.
3) Meanwhile, fry the egg. Slide the cucumber or any ingredients that you are going to put on sushi.
4) When the rice is cool down, mix in sugar, salt, and sushi vinegar.
5) Put a sheet of seaweed sheet on a sushi bamboo sheet. Spread the rice onto the seaweed sheet and leave about 3cm at the end.
6)Roll the sushi. Make sure it is tight. Cut into pieces and enjoy!