Showing posts with label Guest Post. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Guest Post. Show all posts

Saturday 19 November 2011

{Guest Post} Quiche Lorraine by My Cookinghut

Today I am excited and happy to be able to invite Leemei from My Cookinghut to share with us one of her recipe on how to make a French classic, Quiche lorraine which is a rich open pie with a filling of custard baked with bacon and Gruyère cheese.

Leemei is a freelance recipe contributor, food stylist and photographer which is based in London. I love her wide collection of recipes which includes Italian, Middle Eastern, French and etc. And recently her new cookbook – Lemongrass and Ginger Cookbook: Vibrant Asian Recipes which contains a big handful of delicious Asian recipes is scheduled to be published in Spring, April 2012. Although it is still a few months away, but this fabulous cookbook is available for pre-order now and you could could refer more details HERE.


QUICHE LORRAINE


I was thrilled when Ellena asked me to be her guest blogger. Ellena is the author of a great food blog named Cuisine Paradise, which is one of the Top 10 Best Food Blog in Singapore. There is a vast collection of tested and tried recipes on Ellena’s blog. Bedies, there are some great restaurant reviews too!

I have been following Ellena’s blog for quite a while and I absolutely love what she has been sharing on her blog. Thank you very much, Ellena, for giving me this great opportunity to appear as a guest on your blog!

Today, I have decided to make a French classic, Quiche lorraine – a delicately wobbling, full-flavoured beauty that is really easy that everyone can make at home. Quiche lorraine is a rich open pie with a filling of custard baked with bacon. Gruyère cheese is commonly added too.

The bottom crust is a crisp savoury pastry. A good quality of pastry is important. You could make it yourself or get the best short crust pastry you could get at the supermarket. Most of the time at home, I will make it from scratch. Unless I am extremely busy, I will then grab a ready made one.

Quiche lorraine is best served at room temperature. I love to make it a day in advance and let the flavours develop for full impact to be enjoyed the next day.

[Soft Break]So, what do I normally eat with quiche lorraine? Personally, I like to serve it with a simple leafy salad - drizzled with extra virgin olive oil ,seasoned with salt and freshly ground black pepper. It could be just be as simple as that to serve it as lunch or dinner!

Have I tempted you enough? Make it yourself, ideally including homemade pastry, and with fresh eggs and cream.



RECIPE FOR QUICHE LORRAINE



Shortcrust pastry:
225g plain flour
100g unsalted butter, diced
1 egg yolk
a pinch of salt

Filling:
300g diced bacon
230ml double cream
20ml milk
3 eggs
100g gruyere cheese
a pinch of grated nutmeg
salt and pepper, to taste

Method:-
1. To make the pastry, put the flour and salt into a bowl, add the butter and rub with your fingertips until the mixture becomes like a breadcrumb consistency. Add the egg yolk and about 2-3 tbsp of water, mix until the dough just starts to come together. Shape the dough into a ball, wrap in cling film and put in the fridge to rest for 30 minutes.

2. Roll out the pastry into a square on a lightly floured surface and line a 25cm fluted tin or a 35cm rectangular tart tin. Trim the edge and pinch up the pastry edge to make an even border raised slightly above the tin rim. Put in the fridge for 10 minutes.

3. Meanwhile, preheat the oven to 200°C. Then, line the pastry shell with a piece of greaseproof paper and baking beads. Blind bake the pastry for 10 minutes, remove the paper and beads and bake for another 5 minutes or until the pastry is just cooked but still very pale, then remove from the oven. Reduce the oven to 180°C.

4. Bring a saucepan of water to the boil and blanch the diced bacon for 1-2 minutes. Drain well and soak up excess moisture with kitchen paper. Discard extra fat of the bacon if necessary.

5. Mix together the cream, milk and eggs. Season with salt and pepper. Add a pinch of grated nutmeg. Stir until combine. Scatter the bacon into the pastry shell, then pour in the egg mixture. Bake for 30 minutes, or until the filling is set. Leave the quiche in the tin for until cool to handle. Serve at room temperature.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Lastly I would like to thank Leemei for taking her time to prepare this wonderful guest post for Cuisine Paradise and you could find out more about her recipes and travel experience from here website, My Cooking Hut @ http://www.mycookinghut.com/

Wednesday 5 October 2011

{Guest Post} Gulai Cancang (Beef Curry) by Lia, Bentolicious

Today I have invited Lia from  Bentolicious whom is a very talented mummy of 2. She has never failed to excite her readers with her beautiful and creative bento(s)(read more HERE) which reflects her love and passion for her kids. Each time whenever I visit her blog I will be amazed with her ideas and skills in assembling those gorgeous bento.


I get to know Lia since a few years back while leaving comments in some of our favourite bento sites. And recently Lia has started "Bloglicious" where she shared her homecook dishes, bakes as well as some food reviews. For this Guest Post, I am so happy that Lia is here to share with us one of her Indonesia curry dish known as "Gulai Cancang". Without delay, let's take a look at this delicious dish and it's recipe.



GULAI CANCANG



I am a reader of Cuisine Paradise for quite sometimes now. I always admire Ellena’s cooking and baking skills, showed on her delicious blog. She is one of the passionate foodie bloggers from Singapore. She also prepares bento for her son, perhaps that the reason we knew each other in the blogging world. Last week, she asked me whether I could make a guest post for her blog. I was excited and nervous at the same time. After reviewing some choices about Indonesian foods that I wanted to post, I chose ‘Gulai Cancang’ or Beef Curry from West Sumatra. I believe that some of you from the South East Asia region, especially from Singapore and Malaysia are familiar with Padangnese foods. Indonesia is very rich with its culinary heritage, each region has its different culinary that sometimes I don’t know or never taste it before.

Padangnese foods are one of my favorite because they are so tasty that surely will make you eat more than 1 portion of rice. Gulai Cancang usually uses beef or lamb. But since I don’t eat lamb, I choose beef to cook this curry.

Ingredients:-
1kg Beef Brisket
1.5 Litres – 2 Litres water
400ml Thick Coconut Milk / 150ml Coconut Cream
2 Star Anise
1 Teaspoon White Peppercorn
1 Tablespoon Curry Powder
2 Asam Kandis
2 Stalks Lemongrass, bruised
4 Indonesian Bay Leaves
3 Kaffir Lime Leaves
1 Turmeric Leave, knotted
2 Teaspoon Salt or to taste
3 Tablespoons Cooking Oil

Spices Paste:
75 gr Shallot
40 gr Garlic
40 gr Ginger
40 gr Galangal
120 gr Big Red Chilli

Directions:-
1. Boil the water in a pot and cook the beef brisket until tender. I use electric press cooker to speed up the process.

2. Meanwhile, grind shallot, garlic, ginger, galangal and chilli to fine paste with mortar & pestle or electric blender.

3. When the meat is already tender, remove it from the pot, but leave the beef stock inside the pot.

4. Diced the beef brisket about 2 x 2cm.

5. Heat cooking oil in a large pan.

6. Stir fry the spices paste, star anise, white peppercorn, curry powder, asam kandis, lemongrass, Indonesian bay leave, kaffir lime leave, and turmeric leave until aromatic over medium heat.

7. Add 1.5L beef stock. Add salt.

8. Stir well together for few minutes.

9. Add the diced beef brisket. Add coconut milk / coconut cream, keep stiring.

10. Cook until the liquid become slightly thicken. Serve it warm with rice.

~~~~~~~~~~~

Once again, thanks Lia for this wonderful Guest Post and if you wish to find out more about Lia's  Bento creations/tips or her homecooked dishes. Do head over to her blog at Bentolicious. (p/s: photos and recipe shown here all copyright and credited to Bentolicious)


Monday 3 October 2011

{Guest Post} Fruity Jelly by Anncoo Journal


For the month of October I am so excited to line-up a few wonder Guest Posts from different culinary aspect to share with you people. First let's us welcome Ann from "Anncoo Journal" with her gorgeous "Fruity Jelly" which would come in perfectly as a after meal dessert to delight your family or guests.


I get to know more about Ann's blog through Aspiring Bakers since 2010 where everyone of us get together to share (blog about) what we made through a monthly assigned theme. To me, Ann possess a great passion in both her culinary and photographing skill which reflect through her posts. Example:- just recently, she has created some lovely baked "piglets"(read more HERE) for this Mid-Autumn festival which you would definitely be amazed by her crafty fingers.

Now let's us take a look at her new creation for this guest post.


FRUITY JELLY


I've been a silent reader of Cuisine Paradise by Ellena before I started my own blog and I was thrilled when she approached me to do a dessert guest post on her blog. Thank you very much Ellena for giving me an opportunity to be a guest over at Cuisine Paradise.

Fruits have many benefits to our health and Singaporeans are very fortunate to get to taste various types of fresh fruits imported from all over the world at an affordable price. So today, I'm using blueberry from USA, golden kiwi from New Zealand and strawberry from Australia to make a simple Fruity Jelly with agar agar powder as dessert.

Here is the recipe....


Ingredients (A):
1 packet (13g) Agar agar powder
600ml Water
400ml Fresh milk
170g Sugar
2-3 pcs Pandan leaves, rinse and clean well, tie leaves into knots

Ingredients (B):
1 packet (13g) Agar agar powder
1000ml water 170g Sugar
2-3 pcs Pandan leaves, rinse and clean well,tie leaves into knots
Cut some fresh fruits(blueberries, golden kiwi and strawberries)

Method:-
Ingredients (A) 
1. Boil water, sugar and pandan leaves together for 5 minutes, keep stirring constantly at medium heat.

2.Off heat and pour in fresh milk and continue to stir the liquid for another 2 minutes.

3. Discard pandan leaves and pour liquid into serving glass until half full. Leave to set in fridge for about 10 minutes.

Ingredients (B) 
4. Rinse and set aside the cut fruits. (blueberries, diced golden kiwi and strawberries)

5. Boil water, sugar and pandan leaves together for 5 minutes, keep stirring constantly at medium heat.

6. Off heat and continue to stir the liquid for another 2 minutes. Discard pandan leaves.

7. Place fresh fruits into prepared glasses and pour (B) liquid into it.

8. Chill fruity jelly in fridge for few hours before serve.

~~~~~~~~~~~~

Thanks Ann for this wonderful Fruity Jelly post. If you want to read more about Ann's other recipes on making Jelly. You can refer to the link HERE.

Wednesday 14 September 2011

Sweet and Sour Pork plus Cookbook Giveaway by Rasa Malaysia

Today I am so happy to share with you one of our family's favourite recipe from Bee's new cookbook, Easy Chinese Recipes (recipe and photos credited to Rasa Malaysia). If you still remember I did mentioned in facebook(HERE) sometime back regarding the launch of her new cookbook in Singapore. And here my friend Bee kindly offer to share with us this recipe (origin from Easy Chinese Recipes) as well as a complimentary copy of her new cookbook to one of the lucky SINGAPORE readers from this blog.

Sweet-and-Sour Pork, the ubiquitous and arguably one of the most well known Chinese pork dishes, is Cantonese in origin. The secret of an authentic Sweet-and-Sour Pork dish is in the perfect balance of the sweet versus sour flavor of the sauce. Now you can master this flavorsome dish with Bee's (Rasa Malaysia) tested recipe below and more tips on her cookbook.

Serves 4 as part of a multicourse meal 
Ingredients:
8 oz (250 g) pork tenderloin, pork butt, or pork neck
Oil, for deep-frying
2 tablespoons oil, for stir-frying
1 clove garlic, minced
½ small red bell pepper, deseeded and cut into pieces
½ small green bell pepper, deseeded and cut into pieces
½ small onion, quartered
1 slice canned pineapple ring, cut into pieces
2 green onions (scallions), white parts only, cut into 2 in (5 cm) lengths
½ cup (125 ml) Sweet-and-Sour Sauce (page 30)

Marinade:
1 teaspoon soy sauce
1 teaspoon cornstarch
½ teaspoon Chinese rice wine or sherry

Frying Batter:
½ cup (65 g) all-purpose flour, sifted
¼ cup (35 g) cornstarch
½ teaspoon baking soda
1 egg white
¹/³ cup (80 ml) water
1 tablespoon oil Pinch of salt

Method:- 
1. Cut the pork into bite-sized pieces and marinate with the Marinade ingredients for 15 minutes.

2. Mix all the ingredients in the Frying Batter until well combined. Add the marinated pork into the Frying Batter, stir to evenly coat with the batter.

3. Heat 2 to 3 inches (5 to 7.5 cm) of the oil in a wok or stockpot to 350°F (175°C) for deep-frying.

4. Gently drop the pork into the oil and loosen them up immediately with the spatula to prevent the pork from clumping together.

5. Deep-fry them to a light golden brown or until the batter becomes crispy.

6. Dish out with a strainer or slotted spoon, draining the excess oil by laying the pork on a dish lined with paper towels. Discard or reserve the oil for use in another recipe.

7. To stir-fry, heat 2 tablespoons of the oil in a wok or skillet over high heat.

8. Add the garlic and stir-fry to a light brown before adding the peppers, onion, pineapple, and green onion.

9. Stir the ingredients a few times and then add the Sweet-and-Sour Sauce. As soon as the Sweet-and-Sour Sauce thickens, add the fried pork into the wok or skillet.

10. Stir continuously until all the ingredients are well coated with the sauce. Dish out and serve immediately with steamed rice.

Cook’s Note:
If you feel that the frying batter is too thick, add a little more water to it. To make the pork extra crispy, increase the temperature of the oil and deep-fry a second time. If you like more sauce, double the portion of the Sweet-and-Sour Sauce.

As mentioned I am so happy that Bee from Rasa Malaysia agreed to offer 1 Lucky reader from SINGAPORE a "Complimentary Copy" of her NEW cookbook Easy Chinese Recipes published by Tuttle Publishing at a retail price of S$32.00 (before GST). If you are keen in learning more about these easy Chinese Recipes, do grab a copy of this cookbook at any of the major bookstores in Singapore or order online HERE.

To enter the draw, leave a comment on why you would like to win this cookbook together with a valid email address on the comment form and the lucky winner will be randomly chosen. And in order to increase your extra chances on winning you can also choose either 1 or ALL of the bonus below:-

~ Like Rasa Malaysia on Facebook. Leave 1 extra comment for this.

~ Share this post on Tweeter. Leave 1 extra comment for this.

~ Share this post on your Facebook. Leave 1 extra comment for this.

~ Like Cuisine Paradise on Facebook. Leave 1 extra comment for this.


Closing Date for the above Giveaway will be on Sunday, 18 September 2011(2359 Hours). Result will be announce on 19 September 2011, Noon. Good luck everyone!!!! Have fun!


Note:- 
For OVERSEAS readers, you can join a similar giveaway of this cookbook at Rasa Malaysia and My Cooking Hut website respectively.


~~~~~~~~~
{Updated on 19th September 2011}

GIVEAWAY RESULT!!!!!




Giveaway Result Updated!!!

Sunday 21 August 2011

{Cook And Share A Pot Of Curry} Indian Fish Curry plus Prepacked Spice Paste Giveaway

About two weeks ago, I received a facebook invitation through friends regarding about this "Cook And Share A Pot Of Curry" event which request participants to cook and share a pot of curry on Sunday, 21 August 2011(from 11:00am - 11:30pm), in Singapore or anywhere of the world in order to share/introduce this wonderful cuisine together with your family or neighbours from another culture.

And sad to say, this event is also a silent protest over a recent "Curry And Neighbours" disputes which hits media headlines and upset many Singaporean. It all happens between what a Singaporean Indian family had to put up with, due to a request from their neighbour, who has just recently moved in from China. (You can read more about the disputes from TODAYonline HERE)

Thursday 11 August 2011

Chocolate and Milk Pudding

This week I have invited Gertrude from My Kitchen Snippets to do a Guest Post for us on a delicious dessert which I am sure everyone would love it. I have follow her blog silently for about 2 years even though I seldom leave a note or two. From a glance at those labels you will be amazed with all the different kinds of her delicious homecook dishes/bakes which makes you drool. As for me I am always very excited whenever she post something related to "Asian Snacks" where I get to learn and see different food along the way. And if you are a dessert lover, don't forget to take a look at her "Dessert" recipes which you might find something interesting to whip up too.

So now let's welcome Gertrude and her homemade dessert which already makes me drool while drafting this post.


CHOCOLATE AND MILK PUDDING


I would like to thank Ellena for inviting me to do a guest post at her wonderful blog. Of course I was elated but at the same time, a little worried because so far I’ve only done one guest post for another blogger. Her blog is one of the very first Singaporean blog I visited when I first embarked into my blogging journey. I admired her skills in cooking, baking, creating Bento boxes and photography skills. Her blog is very popular and recently being nominated for Singapore Blog Award and has been features in Newspaper and magazines.

Since it is summer here and we are going through some heat waves she suggested that maybe I could prepared a cooling dessert or a quick and easy snack. I love the idea of making dessert using agar agar. Making this dessert is a bit time consuming but the end results is just beautiful. I hope you will try it out. Once again thank you Ellena for your kind invites.

Ingredients for the Chocolate Layers
7gram Agar Agar Powder
500ml Milk
150ml Water
170gram Sugar
25gram Dark Cocoa Powder
2 Egg Yolks

Method:-
1. Combined the agar agar powder and water and mix well. Cook it over low heat until agar agar powder completely dissolved.

2. Add in the milk, sugar and cocoa powder. Cook it over medium low heat until it boils and cocoa powder dissolved.

3. Beat egg yolks and slowly add in a few tablespoon of the agar agar mixture into it (tempering) Continue to stir and add in a few more tablespoon of mixture to it. Once it is mix pour the egg mixture back into the agar agar mixture.

4. Bring it up to a boil and turn off the heat. Check the sweetness if it is to your liking. Pour it into small moulds and let it set.

5. Once it is set, take out the pudding, cut out a few segments according to the mould design. Put alternate segments of the pudding back into the mould and leave some of it empty.


Ingredients for White Layers
7gram Agar Agar Powder
500ml Milk
150ml Water
80gram Sugar
1 Teaspoon Vanilla

Method:-
1. Combined the agar agar and water and mix well. Cook over low heat until the agar agar powder completely dissolved.

2. Add in the milk, sugar and vanilla. Cook over medium heat until it boils. Remove from heat. Spoon the agar agar mixture into the empty sections of the moulds.

3. Let it cool completely in the fridge before serving.


~~~~~~~~~~~

Once again, thanks Gertrude for her wonderful guest post on this Chocolate and Milk Pudding dessert to cool us down on warm evenings. For more recipes on Gertrude's blog, you could refer to the link HERE.


Friday 5 August 2011

Savory Steamed Tofu with Unsweetened Soy Milk

Weekend is approaching and for those who is on leave next Monday, you will get to enjoy a long weekend due to Singapore National Day on Tuesday, 09 August 2011. So if you thinking of what to cook for the family during this weekend perhaps you could read up more on today's homemade "Savory Steamed Tofu with unsweetened Soy Milk", guest post by HL(Tigerfish), writer of "Teczcape - An Escape To Food" food blog and author of "The Everything Rice Cooker Cookbook". (sample of the recipes can be found HERE)

I love to read up HL's blog posts where she always shared quick and easy recipes which most of us could easily follow and whipped up a hearty meal within a short time frame. And most important she always try to create healthy dishes that are nutritious and healthy for her family. So now let's welcome HL and her homemade Savory Tofu dish.


Savory Steamed Tofu with Unsweetened Soy Milk



I have been following Cuisine Paradise by Ellena for some time. Ellena is one super creative cook, baker and food blogger; consistently churning out homey delicious recipes that inspire. It is indeed my privilege to guest post at her award-winning blog. Thank you for your kind invite, Ellena.

Savory steamed tofu pudding/savory steamed tofu custard is a dish that I have cooked many times because it is extremely easy to prepare (no more than 15 minutes including prep. and cooking time!), nutritious, and within minutes, a comforting flavorsome dish.

Additionally, it is a dish that easily encourages you to play up your creativity with flavors and textures. Go little extra miles each time e.g. extra umami by adding mushrooms and tomatoes, extra "soy" by adding (unsweetened) soy milk or extra flavor depth by adding miso.

Super easy to make, super delicious and super healthy too!

See that? They belong to the same world. A soy milk "bath" for tofu (soy beancurd): Savory Steamed Tofu with Unsweetened Soy Milk. Here are some details and tips to make your very own.

Savory Steamed Tofu in Unsweetened Soymilk
(1) Soy Milk "Bath: Add unsweetened soy milk to about half the brim of tofu (tofu already laid out and gently mashed in a serving bowl). More soymilk if you like - about 3/4 brim of the tofu. Of course, you can also substitute soy milk with water or any broth you like. Whole milk also works.

(2) Tofu: Use soft or silken for smooth velvety texture. If you have medium-firm tofu - you could gently mash it down further with a spoon or if you have both varieties on hand - use a mixture (half soft, silken + half medium-firm). Play with textures if you wish. It can be as smooth as silky as you want.

(3) Ingredients: Add diced tomatoes and fresh mushrooms (Note: beech/bunashimeiji mushrooms or any delicate-textured mushrooms work better as the entire dish would just be gently steamed and within that short time of 5-8 minutes of steaming, the mushrooms can be easily cooked through). You can also add sweet corn kernels, shelled edamame beans, or sweet green peas.


(4) Garnishes: Generously garnish with finely chopped cilantro, fried shallots and nori seaweed, add 2-3 drops of sesame oil and dashes of white pepper over the dish before steaming. All these garnishing add flavor, depth and aroma!

(5) Finishing Touches: Set wok to do steaming and turn down the heat to medium to reduce the boil for steaming. Steam for about 5 minutes. After steaming, just another 1-2 drops of sesame oil to bring out the aroma. Salt and more pepper to taste.

Enjoy, and create your own tomorrow!

~~~~~~~~~~~

Once again, thanks HL(Tigerfish) for her wonderful guest post on this Savory Steamed Tofu With Unsweetened Soy Milk dish. For more recipes on HL's blog, you could refer to the link HERE.


Monday 1 August 2011

Cheese And Mayo Bun

I have being following "Maameemoomoo, a 1/2 food blog" since 2010 because I was attracted to Sherie's mouthwatering dishes and bakes. I still remembered vividly it was her Grilled Saba Fish and Black Sticky Rice, 3 ways which makes me among one of her die-heart readers. And furthermore, she had again captured our hearts earlier this year with our all-time favourite "Orh Nee" that she fusion into a wonderful "Orh Nee Cheesecake " which was featured in The Straits Times.

Today I am so happy to invite Sherie to guest post one of her family's all-time favourite "Cheese And Mayo Bun" recipe for us. I am sure with this quick and easy recipe we can all enjoy learning baking homemade bread in no time. Although this recipe is made using bread machine to knead and proof the dough, but no worries you can still make this bread by reading the tips shared by Sherie HERE on "How to make bread without bread machine".


CHEESE AND MAYO BUN



Bread is a daily staple in my household.

These days, i don't do 3 loaves anymore. Apart from experimenting with multigrain breads, one of my weekly must-bake would be Cheese & Mayo Bun. Everyone loves it to bits and pieces. From baby to old man (u-know-who), from me to the helper, we simply cannot resist this irresistible bun, especially now with the water roux method... Darcy is so ditching his favourite bakery. Heee!

When i was approached by the talented Ellena of Cuisine Paradise to guest post for her, i knew she would request a post on bread from me. Grin. Why? Because Ellena loves bread and buns! According to the ever so creative lady, it seems that bread doesn't like her all that much. Hence, she has never quite succeeded in making them. But you know what? Methinks that isn't at all true, because if you know Ellena, you will know that it's rather difficult not to like this oh so sweet lady! *wink*


To be honest, i didn't just thought of the toppings for this bun myself. I made this purely because of Darcy who fancies certain bakery's cheese and mayo bun. If not for Darcy, i wouldn't have thought of marrying the cheese with mayonnaise myself due to its not-so-ideal-for-the-waistline-ingredients.

But whaddaya know.... we are all now addicted to it.

Screw the not-so-idea-for-the-waistline-ingredients! HAHA!

Ingredients: (makes 8 buns)
125ml milk
56g egg
50g caster sugar
5g salt
30g butter
120g tangzhong
350g bread flour
7g milk powder
6g instant yeast

For the topping
grated cheddar cheese
mayonnaise

Method:
1. Place all ingredients in the pan of the bread machine (according to the sequence as stated in the instruction manual of your bread machine). Select the Dough function of the bread machine and press start.

2. Once the machine beeps (after 1 and half hour + 1 proofing), remove dough and give a few light kneading on a lightly floured work surface. Press out the trapped air as your knead before proceeding to chaffing and letting the dough rest for 5mins.

3. Divide dough into 8 pieces.

4. From the 8 pieces, further divide each dough into 3 pieces. Then roll each pieces to 15 cm long rope.

5. Place the rope side by side and start plaiting.

6. Continue to plait until you reach the end. Place the ends together and tuck them neatly under the bottom of the plait. Repeat for the remaining 7 pieces.

7. Place the completed plaits onto baking sheet that has been floured. Let doughs proof for 45 minutes or until double in size.

8. Squeeze or spread ample mayonnaise on the each of the bread doughs before topping them generously with grated cheddar cheese.


9. Bake at the preheated oven at 175c for 10 minutes until the bread is browned. Remove immediately.

----------------------------

Warning : Never bake this when you have little children or adults or .. wait, hmm.. actually, the word anyone would be more befitting *grin*, so yeah, never bake this when there's anyone around because the buns will fly off the cooling rack in a blink of an eye, unless that is your intention in the first place! :D


Once again, thanks Sherie for her wonderful post. And I think after this I shall not have any excuse on not trying to start my bread baking session :p Cross fingers and hope I could bake something decent from her recipe. For more bread recipes on Sherie's blog, you can refer to the list HERE.


Friday 29 July 2011

Happy Birthday, Singapore! - Part I

Today I am very excited to have WaiFong from "Fong's Kitchen Journal" to share with us her National Day Special Cookies as her guest post. I get to know Wai Fong about a year ago through a giveaway event from my blog and since then I always pop-by her blog, drooling over her delicious "Fong's 三菜一汤 - 3-plus-1" that she whipped up for her family. On top of that, she is also one of our regular supporters for the monthly "S$20 Budget Meal" event. So let's put our hands together and welcome WaiFong to share with us her icing cookie recipe as well as thoughts on coming National Day. Enjoy!


Happy Birthday, Singapore!

This is a very special post for me. First, as you can see, I have made some National Day Cookies here as a pre-National Day celebration. Tomorrow, I will be going down to Marina Bay to watch the NDP preview. And I am equally thrilled to be sharing this post with one of my favorite food bloggers, Ellena, at Cuisine Paradise.

With about a week more to our National Day, I decided to make these cookies for my little girl and her pre-school classmates. I zoom in on two colours - red and white, the colours of our National Flag. And, what's better way to pack these cookies than having them in this NDP Fun Box! For those who have attended last year's NDP ("National Day Parade") celebration, you might remember having this Fun Box inside the goodies bag.

I thought this is also a great time for me, as a Singaporean and a young parent, to engage our little ones in some National Education. I design a simple quiz of 20 questions on Singapore, from "what is our National Anthem", " What does the crescent moon on our flag represents" to "Name 5 MRT stations on the East West Line". These questions are printed and glued on small little tags and taped behind each cookie pack. I hope while the children are enjoying the cookies, they will also get to learn something about Singapore.

I used the same cookie recipe as my earlier Valentine's Day cookies. This cookie recipe yields very crispy cookies, but is extremely sticky to work with. If you prefer more manageable cookies, you may want to add a little more flour to it or cut down the butter to 200g.

Ingredients For Cookie dough: (makes about 28 to 30 cookies)
220g butter
100g caster sugar
1 egg yolk
1 tsp vanilla essence
300g plain flour
60g corn flour

Royal icing:
4 tsp meringue powder
4 tbsp water
300g icing sugar
4 tsp lemon juice
Red, black colour gel

Method:
1) Cream butter and sugar till light and fluffy (pale white).

2) Add egg yolk and vanilla essence, beat for another minute or two.

3) Sift plain flour and corn flour together. Add into butter mixture and mix well to form a dough

4) Divide dough to 2 portions, cover with clingwrap and rest dough in fridge for an hour.

5) Roll each dough between baking paper and clingwrap to about 2 to 3mm thick.

6) Rest the dough sheet back in fridge for 30 minutes (or 10 minutes in the freezer).

7) Stamp the cookies using cookie cutter and transfer them to a baking tray lined with baking paper.

8) Bake in preheated oven at 175C for 15 to 20 minutes. Let the cookies cool completely on rack before decorating.


Decorating the cookies:

1) Whisk meringue powder and water till foamy.

2) Add icing sugar gradually and continue to whisk till stiff and fluffy.

3) Add lemon juice and whisk for another 2 minutes. Add a little water (1/4 tsp each time) if the icing is too stiff and dry.

4) Divide into portions and mix in desired coloured gel.

5) For each icing colour, save a portion for piping the outlines (i.e. stiff icing); and then add more water (1/4 tsp each time) to get thinner icing consistency for flooding the cookies.




NOTES:


1) Working with red and black colours are the most tricky, as the red and black coloured gels will turn "pink" and "grey" when mixed together with the white icing. You could try preparing the icing a day ahead, as icing color will darken slightly with time (whisk it slightly before using). If you're preparing your icing ahead, do not make it too thin as it tends to be a little diluted the next day. Alternatively, some websites suggested adding a little cocoa powder to darken the shades. I have not tried this method.

2) Transfer the royal icing to piping bag(s) and use immediately. Else, cover the royal icing with cling wrap to prevent it from drying out.

3) I used a piping tip #2 for piping the lines. For flooding, I just cut a small tip off the disposable piping bag.

4) Click here for a detailed explanation on getting the right icing consistency.

5) Let the icing fully set and dry before transferring them to cookie bag. I left them in a air-con room for about 5 hours to set. Some websites recommend leaving them overnight, but I am concern that the cookies might turn soft.


To know more about WaiFong and her blog, you can cross over to this link HERE to find out more about her cooking and baking recipes. Till then have a great weekend and stay tune for PART 2 of our National Day Special post which is done by me.


Happy Birthday, Singapore!

Wednesday 20 July 2011

Chicken Karaage

Sorry for the lack of post(s) these few weeks because I was pretty busy with a few projects on hand. I would try to get all the draft post(s) published as soon as possible but to compensate, I have invited a few well-known bloggers to guest post(s) some of their home-style dishes and bakes.

Today's let put our hands together and welcome Nami from "Just One Cookbook". I know Nami through her comments on my blog a few months back. From her blog link I also get to know her better as well as exploring her wonderful recipes collection on her home-style Japanese Cuisines. She is also the one who help me to look up recipes on Japanese website regarding the Japanese Steamed Cake which I wish to learn more about it. Today I am so happy to invite Nami to Cuisine Paradise to share her classic “Chicken Karaage” recipe with us and I sure you would like it as much as we do. Enjoy!

Hello readers of Cuisine Paradise! Usually, I’m just the same as you, a fan enjoying Ellena’s delicious creations. She was generous to invite me to contribute a recipe on her site so today I will share one of my family’s favorite Japanese dish, Chicken Karaage (鶏の唐揚げ) recipe. I am a dedicated visitor to Ellena’s site and her mouth watering photos always make me hungry. With her extensive library of recipes from around the world, I learned so much from Ellena and especially Chinese and Southeast Asian cooking techniques. Personally I’ve used multiple recipes from her site to feed my family lunch and dinner and her website has been a great inspirational resource.

Chicken Karaage is a classic Japanese fried chicken dish. It’s a very common Japanese home cooking recipe and many Japanese restaurants including Izakaya (Japanese tapas) offer it in many countries all over the world. You might also find them as a main dish in lunch teishoku (meal set) at restaurants or bento box (lunch box) you buy from Japanese supermarkets. Usually the chicken is marinated in a mix of soy sauce, garlic, ginger, and lightly coated with potato/corn starch mix, then finally deep fried. However, each family has different way of preparing it, and here is mine that my family loves.

I hope you enjoy my Chicken Karaage recipe and thank you so much Ellena for having me!



Chicken Karaage



Difficulty: Modearate
Cooking Time: 60 minutes (excluding marinade time)
Makes: 5-8 servings

Ingredients:
5-10 Chicken thigh fillets, cut into 2 inch pieces (make sure each piece is about the same size so it takes about the same amount of time to deep fry.)

Seasonings
¼ onion, grated
½ Tbsp. ginger (1.5 inch ginger), grated
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 egg yolk
2 Tbsp. cooking sake
1 Tbsp. soy sauce
1 Tbsp. sesame oil
1 tsp. salt
Freshly ground black pepper

¼ cup corn starch (Please adjust if necessary. If you use 10 chicken thighs, probably about ½ cup)

Oil for deep frying

A couple of lemon wedges
Ichimi Togarashi (Japanese red chili pepper flakes) (optional)
Green onion for garnish (optional)



Directions:
1. Put chicken in a Ziploc bag and combine all the ingredients for Seasonings in a bowl and mix all together.

2. Pour the Seasonings into the Ziploc bag and rub the chicken well with hands. Keep it in the fridge for at least 1 hour, preferably 3-4 hours.

3. In a wok, add oil to about half way full and heat it on medium high heat. When you put a chopstick in the oil and bubbles start to appear around the tip, the oil temperature is now around 180C (356F) and ready for deep frying.

4. When oil is ready, take out the Ziploc bag from the fridge and transfer the chicken into a bowl and discard the marinade (liquid). Then add corn starch and mix quickly. You don’t need to mix it evenly (as you see in the picture below). The uneven coating gives each piece its unique texture.

5. Place each piece of chicken separately into the oil. Do not overcrowd the wok, fry maximum 5 pieces at a time. If you put a lot of chicken in the oil, the temperature will drop quickly and chicken end up absorbing too much oil. Make sure the oil temperature stays around 180C (356F) at all time.

  1. Deep fry for 90 seconds.
  2. Transfer the chicken onto a wire rack (if not, paper towel) to drain the oil for 4 minutes,
  3. Deep fry again for 45 seconds, or until golden brown.

Transfer the chicken onto a wire rack to drain the oil. Before you start the next batch, skim/remove leftover crumbs from the oil in order to keep it clean.

6. Serve the chicken with lemon wedges. Squeeze the lemon right before you eat. You can dip in Ichimi Togarashi if you enjoy spicy chicken.


For more Japanese home-sytle recipes, you can refer to Nami website at Just One Cookbook for more recipe ideas.


Saturday 11 June 2011

[Giveaway] Prima Taste Singapore Laksa La Mian

Laksa(叻沙) is a popular spicy noodle soup dish origin from the Peranakan culture, which is a merger of Chinese and Malay ingredients. Basically there are two types of Laksa such as "Curry Laksa" and "Asam Laksa(Penang Laksa)". Curry laksa used coconut curry as soup base together with noodles, tau po, bean sprout, prawns and etc while Asam laksa is a sour fish soup with noodles.


Laksa Leaf also known as Vietnamese mint/cilantro is a kind of herb used in either salad, soup, dish or etc. And in Singapore and Malaysia, the shredded Laksa leaf is an essential ingredient for "Laksa" which is a famous spicy curry noodle soup that is popular between all races.

You can also grow this herb at home for cooking purpose. First just get a handful of this herb from the wet market or supermarkets. Next pluck off most of the leaves leaving only the top, plant the roughly 5 inch stems into the ground and water every morning and you will soon get some freshly grown Laksa leaves.

Although "Thick Rice Noodles(粗米粉)" are most commonly used for Laksa but sometime due to individual preference thin rice vermicelli(幼米粉) or yellow noodles(熟面) are also used. Here for Prima Taste Laksa, La Mian is used instead of the traditional laksa noodles and it taste just as good with it's springy texture.

Ingredients: (serves 2)
2 Packet of Prima Taste Singapore Laksa La Mian
2 Hard-boiled Egg
1/2 Cup Bean Sprouts
Some Sliced Fish Cake
6 Fried Bean Curd Puffs(Tofu Pok), halves
6 - 8 Medium Shrimped, boiled and shelled
1100ml Water

Method:-
1. Cook shrimps in boiling water for about 5 minutes, remove the heads, shells, veins and set aside.

2. Next blanched bean sprouts, sliced fish cake and fried beancurd puffs separately for about 30 seconds, remove and rinse with water. Set aside.

3. Add label "A" Laksa Paste and "B" Laksa Premix into 1100ml of water, mix well and bring to boil.

4. Put noodles into the boiling Laksa soup and cook for about 5 minutes. Add in beancurd puffs continue to cook for another 2 minutes.

5. Top cooked noodles with cooked shrimps, fish cake, bean sprouts and hard-boiled egg and serve with some finely chopped Laksa leaves.

{Alternatively, you can cooked each individual packet separately for better texture of the noodles.}


Total cost for this dish is about S$8.75 with breakdown shown below:-
Cost of Ingredients:
~ Laksa La Mian = S$4.85
~ Shrimps = S$2.00
~ Bean Curd Puffs = S$0.60
~ Bean Sprouts = S$0.40
~ Fish Cake = S$0.50
~ Eggs = $0.40

I am submitting this post to [June $20 Budget Meal - Noodle] host by Me(Ellena) of Cuisine Paradise at this Link HERE.

Lastly in conjunction with this month [$20 Budget Meal - Noodles] theme I would like to share this new "Prima Taste Singapore Laksa La Mian"(2 packets) with 1 Lucky Reader. If you are interested to try this Singapore favourite just leave your Name and your favourite noodle dish (Laksa, Mee Rebus, Carbonara, Bolognaise), example "I Love Fried Prawn Noodles" in the comment box and I will pick ONE Lucky winner and result will be announce on Thursday, 16 June 2011. (draw open to all readers around the world) Good luck!


[Updated on 16 June 2011]
GIVEAWAY RESULTS!!!!!

Congratulation Gertrude. Please email me your mailing address at ellenaguan@hotmail.com so that I could send out the gift by this week. Thanks.


Monday 23 May 2011

[Angry Birds Item Giveaway] Angry Birds Bento - 愤怒鸟便当

I am sure for those who play Handphone/Ipad games you definitely have come across this most popular paid-for game in the Apple App known as “Angry Birds”. My boy whom is a great fan of this game collects all the different character plush toys as well as some other related items such as pencil case, mouse pad, files and etc.

Tuesday 26 April 2011

[Cupcake Pop Mold Giveaway] Assorted Cream Cheese Cake Pops

Ever since I saw and bought these cute cupcake pop molds, I have always wanted to try making some Cake Pops which is one of the latest trend among online bakers other than cupcakes and macarons. And recently I also saw Starbucks having some cute Cake Pops featuring in their food menu too.

What is Cake Pops? Cake Pops can be defined as little/mini cakes on a stick that is coated with chocolate/icing and decorated with all sort of sprinkles or toppings which made famous by Bakerella( read more on the link HERE).

There are a few ways of making these cake pops from either using crashed Oreo or graham biscuits to vanilla or chocolate cake crumbs. But no matter which method(s) you prefer I am sure both Adults and Kids will enjoy the fun process of rolling, molding and decorating these cute Cake Pops.

Ingredients: (make 10 mini cake pops)
200g Butter/Marble Cake, break into pieces
150g Cream Cheese, soften
*1/2 Tablespoon of Grand Marnier/RUM/Kahlua, optional

Decorations:
Assorted Chocolate of Your Choice, melted
Assorted Toppings

*Note:
~ You can either add more cream cheese or a bit cold milk to bind the crumbs if it is too dry.

Method:-
1. Break the ready bought marble cake into smaller pieces and place it in a large mixing bowl.

2. Beat the cake pieces at low speed until it resemble find crumbled (refer to the photo above), drizzle Grand Marnier evenly over the cake and beat for another few second till combined.

3. Next using a spatula or hand mix and knead the soft cream cheese mixture with the crumbs till it forms a smooth dough.

4. Roll the mixture into a 1” round balls and place on a tray lined with foil/baking paper.

5. When done, place them in the freezer for about 5 minutes before molding them using the cupcake mold.


To Assemble:
1. Place one of the chilled dough in the cupcake mold, gently press down to fix the mould and closed it tight to remove any excess dough that are being cut off.

2. You have to work fast and mold all the prepared dough into cupcake shape then freeze them for another 5 minutes to firm it up before dipping with melted chocolate.

3. Melt your choice of chocolate in a microwave safe bowl at 30 seconds intervals on high heat, stirring in between until chocolate melts and become smooth.

4. Slowly lower the cake into the melted chocolate to coat the bottom half portion by holding the tip of the cake. When done carefully insert a lolliop stick from the bottom base of the cake to secure it. (after coating the base, I leave it on the baking paper and freeze for another 3 minutes before doing the top)

5. After the chocolate coating, rest the sticks of cake pop on styrofoam block(can get from daiso) or in a tall cup to dry while decorating the pops with sprinkles or toppings.

6. You can refer to the related VIDEO(click HERE) on making these cake pops by using this cupcake mold.


Remeber the monthly Aspiring Bakers(founder, small small baker) events that I always participate, for this month of April, the key ingredients will be cheese. Jean suggest that it should be something cheese related on either bakes/frozen desserts. So I will be submitting this to Aspiring Bakers #6: Say Cheese! (April 2011) hosted by Jean from Noms I Must.

Secondly I would like to thanks those of you who had participated in the "Gyoza Mold Giveaway" and "Sandwich Sealer plus Heart Shaped Food Picks" events which ended last week. Here is the 3rd “Giveaway” for the month of April to celebrate Cuisine Paradise's 6th Anniversary which falls on 30th April 2011. And I hope with this handy "Cupcake Pop Mold" you can make use of it to shape into different design of Cake Pops where you can refer to their official website HERE.

If you are interested to win this set of "Cupcake Pop Mold", just leave your Name and your favourite Cake Pop and topping (strawberries, Oreo, dark chocolate, mint), example "I Love Chocolate Cake  Pop With Oreo Toppings" in the comment box and I will pick ONE Lucky winner on Sunday, 01 May 2011. Result will be announce on 02 May 2011.


[Updated on 02 May 2011 09 May 20111]

GIVEAWAY RESULTS!!!!!






GIVEAWAY RESULTS ARE OUT! Are you the Lucky One!!!!!

ShareThis