Monday 30 April 2012

Cuisine Paradise Turns 7!

Today, 30 April 2012 marks my 2,555 days (7th years) in blogging where Cuisine Paradise turns seven(7). Indeed time flies and it had being 7 years since I started with my 1st recipe post on "Steam Mini Pandan Kueh" with an aim just to share my tried and tested recipes and homecook dishes with friends.

Along the years, I have learn to cook and bake different kind of cuisines, food styling as well as into food photographing.  Despite of the ups and downs during my blogging days, I have get to know many new friends who share the same interest either from cooking, baking or photographing.

And to all readers of Cuisine Paradise, I hope I am enable to enlighten you with more improvements from my post and style of preparing the food(cooking/baking) through different stages of my project themes. Here I would like to sincerely voice out my appreciations and thoughts for those who has supported Cuisine Paradise during all these years. Thanks for all your feedback, comments and thoughts which enable Cuisine Paradise to achieve what it has today. Without all your supports and spread of words, Cuisine Paradise would not able to achieve up to 1.8 million page view (since June 2011 till date) and currently having about 150,000+ visitors per month.

Below are some of the flashbacks from Cuisine Paradise over the years:-


MOST POPULAR RECIPE
Avocado Chicken Parmigiana


With over 110,000 pins via from "Pinterest" and a total of 150,000+ Pageviews till date, this is one of the most popular recipe among readers of Cuisine Paradise. It is so easy to prepare that you only need an oven toaster instead of an oven to handle this recipe. And moreover this dish can be pair with either salad or pasta to end with a complete hearty meal.

If you want to prepare something simple and yet flavorsome to impress your loved ones, here is the recipe.



MOST POPULAR KITCHEN GADGET
Happy Call Double-sided Pressure Pan


It's only a few months back that this "Happy Call Double-Sided Pressure Pan" has finally makes it way into many kitchens in Singapore and Malaysia after a year or so in Singapore. This happens from a Happy Call group known as Munch Ministry which set up by 2 ladies who share their interests and recipes on cooking quick and simply healthy food using  HCP.

Even though I have one of this Happy Call Pan (HCP) for more than a year plus, I did not really fully utilize it until I was influence by this HCP group in facebook. After which I have develop interest in trying different recipes using HCP from dishes to bake. Below are some example of my HCP cooking/baking project. For the full HCP recipes menu, please refer HERE.

Baked Sweet Potato

Sizzling Tofu

Claypot Rice

Pineapple Upside-down Cake

Muah Chee

Pandan Chiffon Cake



OUR FAVOURITE BENTO


Making Bento is one of our weekly or at least twice a month mother and kid bonding activities whereby my boy and I will agreed on a theme to work together to assemble his bento.  Up till date I have about 30 quick and easy kid's bento featured in Cuisine Paradise and inSing.com, below are some of our favourite among the rest.

Easter Chicky Bento

Penguins Bento

Red Angry Birds Bento



PRODUCT REVIEWS


As a homemake and someone who loves to explore new kitchen products, I love to try new food or kitchen products whenever I spot something interesting during our weekly marketing trip. And from time to time I would also received product samples from media to be featured in Cuisine Paradise. Below are some of the product review posts and you could also read up more on this link HERE.

VOGEL's mueslis

Easy Thai Cooking(cookbook)

Zespri Kiwifruit Recipes



CURRENT PROJECT
Korean Cooking


It has never come across my mind to learn how to prepare Korean cuisines at home. And it's only due to my recent interest in Korea drama that I am starting to love how to appreciate Korea dishes in another view. Before starting on this cooking project, friendly speaking I am not a fan of even their well-known appetizer; Kimchi(김치) nor Korean Rice Cake (Tteok - 떡) which can be used to cook soup, stewed or noodles. But now with their easy to prepare and delicious dishes I am keen in exploring more Korean cuisines with the help of my new Korean friend. Thanks Daphne!

Below are some samples of my Korean Cooking Project post. If you are keen to read up more on this project you can click on the link HERE.

Kimchi Tofu Soup

Korean Rice Cakes with Ramen Noodles

Sangyetang (recipe coming soon)


Lastly I hope my passion for "food" on this blog would be able to commit for another 7 years or more but till then I really needs all your supports and feedback in order to maintain this blog and continue to strike for better improvements. And if you are new to cooking/baking, I would like to welcome you on board and sincerely hope that my recipes collection would be able to help you cookout some quick and easy dishes for your loved ones.

Friday 27 April 2012

{Photo Friday} Our Bento Dinner


Making Bento is one of our weekly or at least twice a month mother and kid bonding activities whereby my boy and I will agreed on a theme to work together to assemble his bento.  Up till date I have featured about 30 quick and easy kid's bento in Cuisine Paradise and here I would like to share with you two sets of our Bento Dinner which we have made recently.

A bowl of simple steamed rice topped with some Winnie the Pooh shaped roasted pumpkin adds some extra flavour to the plain rice.

A little bit of here and there make up a nicely presented kid's portion of our dinner. Instead of piling all the side dishes on the plate itself, I have divided them into small portion using colourful container to make the food look more appetising.

Here is another simple Bento Dinner which consists of Chicken Nuggets and Popcorn Chickens plus Hard-boiled Egg and some fish floss and baked whitebait on steamed rice. Till then have a great weekend everyone! Cheers!

Wednesday 25 April 2012

Korean Spicy Chicken - 매운닭날개


If you do a Google on this "Korean Spicy Chicken(매운닭날개)" you notice there are quiet a few different methods and recipes in preparing this dish. From the usual style of marinating chicken using "gochujang paste(Korean hot pepper paste)" and cook it either stir-fry or grill to a fusion way similar to Buffalo Wings where chicken is oven baked and coated with layer(s) of Gochujang sauce.


KOREAN SPICY CHICKEN
매운닭날개


This bake version is something different from the usual Gochujang Chicken Stew(DakDoriTang - 닭도리탕) that is filled with vegetables and spices to warm the cold weather. To be honest, while preparing this dish I was quiet worry that it might not turn out well such as the guchujag sauce might be too spicy to our liking or the overall marination might be either too strong or etc.

But I guess my worried is in vain. By looking at the photo(s) shown above I am sure you are just as excited as me(at that time) who wants to have a bite on those mouth-watering sweet and spicy gochujang sauce coated mid-joints. .


Recipe adapted from Week of Menus, Korean-style Spicy Chicken Wing

(Serves: 2-3 |     Preparation: 10 minutes |       Cooking: 40 minutes)

Ingredients:
12 Chicken Mid-joint(500g)
1/2 Tablespoon Soy Sauce
1/2 Tablespoon Minced Garlic
1/2 Tablespoon Minced Ginger
1/2 Tablespoon Sesame Oil
1/2 Teaspoon Ground Black Pepper

Spicy Sauce:
2 Tablespoons Gochujang(고추장)
1.5 Tablespoons Honey
1.5 Tablespoons Soy Sauce
2.5 Tablespoons Sake/Cooking Wine
1 Tablespoon Minced Garlic
1 Tablespoon Minced Ginger
1 Tablespoon Sesame Oil
1/2 Tablespoon Roasted Sesame Seeds

Method:-
1. Rinse and pat dry chicken mid-joint, pour in marinade mixture(soy sauce, minced garlic and ginger, sesame oil and pepper)mix well and set as side in the fridge for at least 30 minutes or overnight.

2. Preheat oven to 180° Celsius(356 degrees Fahrenheit), place chicken on baking tray lay with baking paper and bake for about 30 minutes. (turning the chicken at least twice to get an even brown colour)

3. Mix the spicy sauce sauce ingredients in a bowl, spoon/brush the mixture onto the baked mid-joint and return to the oven to cook for another 5 minutes on 200° Celsius till caramelize.

4. Next remove mid-joint from heat, turn it over and spread another lager layer of sauce on it and continue to bake for another 5 minutes.

5. When done, remove mid-joint from oven, sprinkle some chopped spring onion and sesame seeds on it and serve hot.

Above is my share of mid-joints to go with steamed rice(I had 2 bowl of rice :p) and Kimchi(김치) which makes it perfect for my homecook Korean meal. This spicy chicken is definitely a great dish or finger food for party and gathering. And I am sure it goes well with a can of chilled beer to flash down some of those spiciness.

Other than this version of Baked Spicy Chicken, I would like to try the authentic Korean-style of "Gochujang Chicken Stew" soon and perhaps also some homemade Kimchi if I have the courage and time to try it out.

Monday 23 April 2012

Honey Lemonade From Happy Sheep Honey


Most of us understand that Honey contains antioxidants(essential for protecting against free radicals) which can be helpful to boosting immunity and as well it has been used since ancient times to treat certain allergies. For your information, honey contains traces of Vitamins B and C as well as minerals such as Calcium, Iron, Potassium, Magnesium and etc. It is also a source of natural unrefined sugars and carbohydrates, which are easily absorbed by the body and therefore provide an instant energy boost with long-lasting effects.

Recently I received these two products from Happy Sheep Honey to try out and my family and I really love it's taste and flavour compared to the usual one that we always purchased. According to their website, Happy Sheep Honey is from the remote native forests of the West Coast region in the South Island of New Zealand. And their unpasteurised honey this minimally processed to preserve the inherent natural flavours and live enzymes makes it popular to be consume within health food circles.

Happy Sheep Honey includes a selection of four unpasteurised honeys such as:- West Coast Honey, Active Manuka 12+ Honey, Lemon And West Coast Honey and Strawberry West Coast Honey. You can easily purchase these honey at local supermarkets such as NTUC Fairprice or Cold Storage; prices range between S$10.35 - S$39.90 depending on the product.


HONEY LEMONADE


As recommended, a daily dose of honey whether to be served as sweetener in hot/cold beverages, or spread on toast or cake will help to boost the body's supply of antioxidants. So let's start the day by having a cup of this Honey Lemonade before breakfast to flush out our system and give it a boost with this cleansing brew. And instead of quenching thirst with a soda on a hot day, perhaps you can turn this into an Icy Lemonade for a healthier beverage and support "Food Revolution Day in Singapore" which begins in 19 May 2012.(read more HERE)


(Serves: 2            |        Preparation: 5 minutes )

Ingredients:
500ml Lukewarm Drinking Water
2 - 3 Tablespoons Lemon West Coast Honey
A Few Slices of Lemon, optional

Method:-
1. Stir in Lemon West Coat Honey into water and mix well.

2. Pour honey mixture into prepared cup/mug together with a slice of two of fresh lemon to enhance the taste and flavour.

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TIPS:
~ For icy cool lemonade, you use ice water instead of normal drinking water or add some ice cubes into the final mixture before serving.

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PREVIEW!!!


ROSEMARY HONEY CHICKEN DRUMLET
(using Lemon And West Coast Honey from Happy Sheep Honey)


Other than using honey in making beverage, I would be sharing another recipe using honey to make the above Rosemary Honey Chicken Drummlet(baked version) in the upcoming post. So do stay tune if you like the combination of honey and rosemary herbs!

Friday 20 April 2012

Coke Pork Ribs ~ New Version!


This is one of the few dishes I have learnt through a parenting forum (Mum4Mum) when I first started blogging in 2005. At that time this Coke Pork Ribs and Coke Chicken Wings are one of the famous dishes among the forum members and related food bloggers. And if you have follow most of my posts from that time you might have tried this Coke Pork Ribs recipe which used "Char Siew Sauce" as one of the ingredients.

Recently, Derrick from sgfoodonfoot has cooked the Coke Chicken Wings using Happy Call Pan (HCP) and it definitely brings back my memories and inspired me to cook this Coke Pork Ribs again which shown in this post.


COKE PORK RIBS
(using Happy Call Pan)


This is a very quick and easy finger liking dish where you can use either spare ribs or chicken wings as one of the main ingredients. But for us, we prefer spare ribs compared to chicken because of it's texture and taste which is similar to Pai Gu Wang(排骨王). And if you prefer a darker brown colour spare ribs, you can add an additional 1/2 tablespoon of dark soy sauce while simmering with the coke and its sugars content would give a deep glossy coating and caramelized flavor to the end products.


(Serves: 2-3 | Preparation: 30 minutes | Cooking: 30 minutes)

Ingredients:
500g - 600g Prime Pork Ribs, cut smaller pieces
1 Teaspoon Freshly Ground Black Pepper
1/2 Tablespoon Honey
1/2 Tablespoon Dark Soy Sauce
1 Tablespoon Light Soy Sauce
1 Tablespoon Cooking Wine
1/2 Tablespoon Sesame Oil
1/2 Tablespoon Cornflour
1/2 Can Of Coke(Coca-Cola)

Method:-
1. Rinse and pat dry spare ribs. Add in all the above ingredients except Coke and marinate it for at least 30 minutes or overnight in the fridge.

2. Arrange marinated spare ribs on HCP, cover and cook for about 2 minutes on each side before adding in half can of Coke.

3. When the mixture comes to boil, cover and lock the pan. Simmer the spare ribs on the lowest heat for about 30 minutes or till sauce thicken and meat is tender.

4. Half way through the cooking time, you could add extra 1/2 tablespoon of dark soy sauce to darken the colour of the spare ribs. (remember to flip the HCP a few times during cooking in order to give the spare ribs an evenly colour coating)

5. When done, remove spare ribs from pan and garnish it with some chopped spring onion and sesame seeds. Serve hot with steamed rice.

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NOTE:-
~ You can also use any Non-stick Pan for this recipe instead of Happy call Pan.


Till then have a great weekend everyone! Catch up again with more NEW recipes next week. Cheers!

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