[3 recipes] Christmas Bakes

Christmas is just a few days away from now, although this year we cannot have large group gatherings due to the current situation but we still can prepared some homebake cakes or cookies to bless our friends and family members. This year we are sharing three different types of our favourite bakes and we hope there is one that suits your liking.

[recipe + video] Osmanthus Longan Coconut Koi Jelly

Chinese New Year is around the corner so here I am sharing a quick auspicious dessert which you can prepared for your guests during festive gathering. This Osmanthus Longan Coconut Jelly consists of 2 layers with a golden osmanthus jelly top and aromatic coconut flavour below.

新年甜点好预兆；黄金鲤鱼+元宝来拜年。桂花龙眼椰奶冻

3 Recipes Using Hokkaido Fresh Milk

Hokkaido is well-known for its delicious dairy products, beautiful scenery and fresh seafood. In fact I still miss the Hokkaido Fresh Milk which I had couple of years back during my Japan trip. The good news is now you can find Hokkaido Fresh Milk without traveling to Japan.

Hokkaido Fresh Milk is as good on its own or you can pair it with breakfast cereal, granola, cakes and pastries or even use it to create quick desserts, bakes or even Japanese favourite "royal milk tea". In this article I will be sharing 3 fool-proof recipes which can be easily done in less than 20 minutes.

[recipes] Mango Sago Pomelo vs Mango Pudding

[Dessert] Homemade Mango Sago with Pomelo

Now is definitely a good time to make some mango dessert especially when those sweet Honey Mango from Thailand are on offer. Since the fruit stalls at my area are selling 1 for either a dollar to two depending its outer appearance and ripeness, I bought a dozen to make some cool refreshing chilling Mango Sago as well as Mango Pudding to beat the scorching heat.

2015 Chinese New Year Family Gatherings

Chinese New Year Gatherings

Gosh, it's almost coming to the end of 1st quarter for 2015 and before we move on to new recipe posts. With that here are some recap of our Chinese New Year gatherings with relatives and friends whom I am bless to have them with us even though we might not get together often during the year. But thanks to the advance social media platforms we are still able to keep in touch with each other through texts, photos or even video clips in our cozy chat groups.

2014 Chinese New Year Family Gatherings

It had being almost a week since the last day of Chinese Lunar New Year (CNY) ended on 14 February 2014. And during that two weeks we get to meet up with relatives and friends as well as enjoying all the festive feast and family bonding time. With this summarized post I would like to share with you peeps on what we did during CNY as well as some festive food that we enjoyed.

[No Churn] Coffee Ice Cream

It has being more than two years since my last Eggless Dark Chocolate Ice Cream post till now. And recently I was motivated by some of my Instagram friends homemade ice cream posts which I decide to make this super easy "No-Churn Coffee Ice Cream" from Nigella Lawson site which you can easily whipped it up at home in less than 10 minutes.

In her website there are a few no-churn ice cream recipes and I have selected our favourite Coffee Ice Cream that used espresso powder and Kahlúa liqueur (instead of espresso liqueur mentioned in the original recipe) which satisfy the craving of coffee lovers like us.

COFFEE ICE CREAM
(No Churn)

I love this recipe mainly because it is eggless plus you don't even need an ice cream maker. What you need to do is whisk up everything in a mixing bowl using electric beater and freeze it in air tight container. For my case, I used my Bosch ErgoMixx Hand Blender where I pour all the ingredients into the tall beaker and blend it till smooth.

Pandan Yogurt Pudding

In terms of the word "pudding" it can be used to describe both sweet and savory dishes like "cheese pudding", "bread and butter pudding", "Christmas pudding" and etc. For this post, I will be sharing a a low fat pudding using plain yogurt to replace the usual cream or egg found in most pudding recipes. And it can be easily whip up in less than 10 minutes, after which pop them into the fridge and serve it with your desire toppings.

PANDAN YOGURT PUDDING

In order to make it an Asian flavour I added some pandan paste to achieve a lovely green and aroma for this dessert. And for those staying overseas like United States, Australia, Japan, Europe and etc where you cannot easily access to fresh Pandan Leaves, I will suggest you can stock up a bottle or two of the Pandan Paste from your local Asian grocery stores. As these lovely paste do comes in handy when you want to make some Asian delights such as Pandan Chiffon Cake, Pandan Waffle, Nasi Lemak Rice and etc.

[4 Recipes] Quick and Easy Meal With Bosch MSM6 ErgoMixx Hand Blender

With the new gadget Bosch ErgoMixx Hand Blender added into my kitchen pantry, I decided to work on a lunch menu to test out its features and functions to blend, process and whisk. In this post, I will be sharing four recipes using those functions which I am quite happy with the end results.

Actually before using the hand blender I did a Google search on it's review; and I am pretty distracted with some of the negative reviews on it's universal cutter and blender. But all those worries were put in vain after I tested out the blender with the recipes shown below. Now I am glad that I can easily handle small amount of ingredients using this reliable blender.

Osmanthus Chestnut Cake - 桂花马蹄糕

A few days back during our trip to Chinatown, I saw a stall selling Osmanthus Chestnut Cake (桂花马蹄糕) at a price of S$8.50 per box which gave me a shock. The price that they are selling per box is more than enough to replicate 3 similar boxes if you know how to make it at home. Although my recipe here might not be as authentic when compared to those sold outside in the shop but at least this is not a difficult dessert which you could do it at home for your guests or as a New Year gifts.

Osmanthus And Chestnut Koi Jelly Plus Osmanthus Flower Giveaways

Thinking of what dessert to make this coming Chinese New Year? Why not try this super easy Osmanthus And Chestnut Koi Jelly which I am sure your guests would be impress with those cute and auspicious Koi Fish (锦鲤) and Ingot (元宝). With just 3 main ingredients such as Osmanthus Flower, Konnyaku Jelly and Water Chestnut you could easily replicated this dessert which is similar to Osmanthus Cake (桂花糕) but in jelly form rather than cake.

OSMANTHUS AND CHESTNUT KOI JELLY

For this jelly dessert I did not add any food colouring and the "golden colour" effect comes from the natural colour of the Osmanthus flowers itself. So if your prefer a darker colour,  you could either add in a teaspoon more of the Osmanthus flower or a few drops of yellow food coloring. But if you cannot get hold of any Osmanthus Flower or Konnyaku Jelly, you could try another flavour instead of Osmanthus using Lemongrass with a reference recipe here.

As for the Koi And Ingot jelly mould, you could get it from Kitchen Caper. I bought mine with 3 different assorted mould for S$5.00 during their festive promotion.  

(Serves: 4-6  | Preparation: 15 minutes  | Cooking: 7 minutes)

Ingredients:

• 1 Packet Red Man Brand Konnyaku Premix Jelly Powder
• 1200ml Water
• 3 - 4 Teaspoons Osmanthus Flower
• 1.5 Tablespoons Wolfberries, soaked till soften
• 8 Water Chestnuts, skin removed and diced
• 1 Knot of Pandan Leave, optional

Method:-
1. In a pot, add 1200ml of water and bring to boil together with pandan leave for 3 minutes to infuse the water with pandan leave fragrance. 

2. Lower the heat, add in osmanthus flowers and simmer on low heat for 2 minutes.

3. On the lowest heat, slowly stir in Konnyaku Jelly Powder using a balloon whisk or wooden spoon until powder fully dissolved. Turn off the heat and remove from stove.

4. Add 2 wolfberries (pre-soaked in water for 3 - 5 minutes till puff) and 1/2 - 1 teaspoon of water chestnut in each jelly mould (refer to the photo above).

5. Slowly pour in jelly solution into the prepared mould. Cool and chill in the fridge for at least 2 hours to firm it before serving.

Osmanthus And Chestnut Koi Jelly

Steam Osmanthus Cod Fish	Glutinous Red Date With Osmanthus Syrup	Huiji Steamed Pomfret With Osmanthus

Osmanthus Honey Tea

If you have no time to involve yourself in the kitchen, perhaps a cup of this refreshing Osmanthus Honey Tea (recipe) will be great to help smoothing your mood as well as detoxification and beauty maintenance.

GIVEAWAYS

Lastly in order for those who are interested to try our Osmanthus Flower. I would be giving away 2 trial packet (4g each) of Osmanthus Flowers to 2 Lucky Readers to try out some of the related recipes that I have shared.

How To Win:-
1. Comment (on this post) which recipe with Osmanthus Flowers that you would like to try.

2. Click LIKE and SHARE the above photo over at Cuisine Paradise Facebook Page (here); AND

Leaving a comment (on facebook) that you have "Like And Share" the above.

Closing Date: 05 February 2013 (Tuesday), 12.00 NOON
*Giveaway is open to ALL READERS of Cuisine Paradise with a valid mailing address.

[Giveaway Result Updated on 05 Feb 2013]

{5 New Recipes} Pre Chinese New Year Dinner Gathering

Last Saturday evening, a few of us get together to have an early Chinese New Year dinner over at my place. Although this was not the first time I prepared food for such as big group of friends other than my family,  I am still very nervous and a bit stress up with planning the dishes as well as preparations.

Thanks to Jacob and Shiting who initiate to help up with the Yusheng as well as preparing the ingredients for the dishes in order to put this dinner together. I hope everyone enjoys the meal and I apologize if the dishes are not up to expectations due to my clumsy hands and mind in the kitchen :)

Orange Marmalade Bread Pudding

There are so many festive bakes to make during Christmas season like Gingerbread Man, Classic Chocolate Brownie, Yule Chocolate Log and etc. Here is another quick festive dessert follow by the Pancakemisu which I have shared two weeks back.

I am sure most of you have tried Bread and Butter Pudding which is one of those classic English recipes that everyone loves. With the addition of marmalade with the egg custard, it gives the bread pudding a zingy orangey taste which makes the whole thing superb.

ORANGE MARMALADE BREAD PUDDING
(using Frezfruta Orange Marmalade)

This dessert is so yummy with layers of soft custard insides that contrasts with the crispiness of the buttery danish bread and nutty almond flakes on top. And it is also very easy to prepare just by whisking together the custard ingredients, pour it over on the bread, bake till custard is set and top is golden brown in colour. 

(Serves: 4  | Preparation: 10 minutes  |   Cooking: 30 minutes)

Ingredients:

• 5 Slices Of Danish Bread
• 1/4 Cup Frezfruta Orange Marmalade
• 3 Egg (55g each)
• 200ml Milk
• 100ml Thicken Cream
• Zest of 1/2 Orange
• 1 Tablespoon Caster Sugar, optional
• Some Julienned Orange Zest, optional

Method:-
1. Preheat oven to 180°C (degree Celsius). Lightly grease the base of two 12 x 12 x 8cm square baking dish and set aside.

2. Spread each pieces of Danish bread with Frezfruta Orange Marmalade, cut it into 8 small pieces and layer them into the two prepared baking dish.

3. In a large bowl, whisk together egg, milk, cream and orange zest for 1 minute till smooth. Carefully pour the egg mixture over the bread and leave it to soak for 5 minutes.

4. Cover baking dish with foil and bake for 20 minutes, remove the foil and continue to bake for another 5 minutes or until top is golden and the custard is set.

5. Remove the pudding from oven and allow to cool for 5 minutes. Dust with icing sugar and serve immediately with a cup of Gold Kili Instant Double White Milk Tea.

Tip:
~ For extra flavour, you could sprinkler some castor sugar and julienned orange zest on the bread before baking..

During baking the bread pudding will puff quite a lot which resemble soufflé but it will deflate once it is out of the oven so remember to use a deep baking dish instead of shallow one for this recipe. And with this easy recipe you could prepare a quick festive dessert to impress your guests together with  some Floral or Milk Tea which is perfect beverage to go with bread pudding.

Black Sesame Paste With Almonds Using Cuisinart Hot And Cold Blender

Black Sesame Paste is one of the common dessert found in dessert chain outlets such as Ah Chew Desserts, Dessert Hut, Er Gu Dessert (二姑糖水) and etc. And some believe that by consuming black sesame paste it also helps to nourish the blood, lubricate the intestines and clear "wind" in the stomach too.

On the down side, for those suffer from spleen troubles, diarrhoea or loose stools should avoid over-consumption of these small seeds.

BLACK SESAME PASTE WITH ALMONDS

After the previous recipes on Broccoli And Spinach Soup, Pumpkin And Meat Porridge; this post I would be sharing another quick Asian dessert which I am sure most of you would love it. The consistency of this Black Sesame Paste could be adjust with additional 100 - 150ml more of water during cooking if you prefer a more dilute and watery paste.

(Serves: 4 | Preparation: 10 minutes | Cooking: 20 minutes)

Ingredients:
150g Black Sesame Seeds
50g Uncooked Rice
4 Cups (1000ml) Water
150g Caster Sugar/Rock Sugar
1 Stalk Pandan Leave, knotted
50g Roasted Almonds, roughly chopped

Method:-
1. Pre-soaked the rice for at least 30 minutes, drain well and set aside.

2. Rinse the black sesame seeds, drain well and pan-fry till completely dry and fragrant.

3. Place sesame seeds and rice into Cuisinart Hot And Cold Blender glass jug together with water. Set the timer to 20 minutes, blend the mixture for 30 seconds using SPEED 1.

4. Next add in pandan leave and sugar, bring the mixture to boil on HIGH for 5 minutes before switching it to SIMMER and continue to cook until end of the cycle.

5. When everything is cooked, remove the "pandan leave" and PULSE the mixture twice or more to achieve your desire texture.

6. Ladle Black Sesame Paste between serving bowls, garnish with roasted almonds and serve immediately.

To serve you could top it with some roasted almond to enhance the taste or even with a scoop of Vanilla Ice-cream if you are open to some adventure new combination. Till then I would update more recipes such as "Watermelon Granita", "Porridge", "Bolognese Sauce" using Cuisinart Hot And Cold Blender soon.

STAND A CHANCE TO WIN CUISINART SILICONE WARE

Just for your information, I saw from ToTT's Facebook page that they already round-up the 8 Finalists for Cuisinart Soup Making Competition (Singapore region) which will take place on 01 December 2012. After which the winning team will represent Singapore in the regional competition in Hong Kong for the championship! So why not "VOTE" and support your favourite soup shown above at ToTT Facbook Page (link here) and be one of the 4 Lucky Voters to win a set of Cuisinart Silicone Ware worth S$80.00!

I have "voted" the Healthy Prawn Broccoli Soup (2nd row, 2nd soup), what about you?

Lemongrass And Zespri Kiwifruit Konnyaku Jelly

When you do a goggle search on "lemongrass jelly recipe" you will see a long list of choice to pick and experience on. Through the list, my favourite pick comes from Shirley's site at @Køkken (recipe), she shares a very easy recipe using "gelatine powder" instead of the Konnyaku Premix that I used which is not common in some countries. So for those who cannot get hold of the premix like what I used, perhaps you would like to try using Shirley's recipe if you are interested to make some.

LEMONGRASS AND KIWIFRUIT JELLY

I am sure you remember this cute Pooh shaped Lemongrass Jelly which I have shared from my previous post on Kiwi-licious Feast. I purposely made some using my boy's favourite "Winne The Pooh" shaped mould in order to make the jelly appealing to him in sight in order for him to try. So for mum who finds it difficult to get your picky eater into trying new food, perhaps make something with interesting characters they like will help. (for more kids meal ideas, read HERE)

Here I have simplify the steps and ingredients by using Konnyaku Premix Jelly Powder to make this refreshing jelly and you can add in some fruits such as kiwifruits, aloe vera, mini grapes and etc to enhance the flavour.

(Serves: 4-6 |   Preparation: 20 minutes   |  Chilling: 1 hour)

Ingredients:
1 Each of Zespri® Gold and Green Kiwifruits, cut into small cubes
6 - 8 Stalks of Lemongrass, halved and bruised
2 Knots of Pandan Leaves
1.5 Litres Water
1 Packet of Konnyaku Premix Jelly Powder

Method:-

1. Bring 1.5 litres of water to boil, add in lemongrass and pandan leaves, simmer the mixture for about 15 minutes on low heat. 

2.When done, switch off the heat, measure 1250ml of the lemongrass water (you can leave a few stalks of the lemongrass in it) and set aside to cool to room temperature.

3. Next stir in Konnyaku premix jelly powder into the cool lemongrass water, bring it to boil again on medium heat.

4. Remove from heat, stir till bubbles dissipate.

5. Half filled the jelly mould, topped with some chopped kiwifruits and filled it to the rim of the mould.

6. Cool to room temperature and keep refrigerate.

Personally I love the taste and fragrant of this lemongrass jelly because of it's light and refreshing taste. And for more creative way of making your jelly, you can add in canned fruits such as longan, fruit cocktails and served with ice cubes, or just served it as in it with more fresh cut fruits or etc. I am sure this will make a great party dessert too!

KIWIFRUIT CHIFFON CAKE

(Upcoming Post)

Time flies, tomorrow is the last day of the "Zespri® 14 days Daily Scoop of Amazing Challenge (#14daysofZespri)" and to mark off the finale of this challenge I would be sharing my last experiment using Zespri® Kiwifruit to bake a "Kiwifruit Chiffon Cake". For a challenge I have used fresh Kiwifruit Puree instead of the usual kiwifruit jam recipe shown online. So if you are interested, stay tune for the recipe tomorrow!

{Zespri Kiwifruits Feast} Apple, Kiwifruit Mint Smoothie, Baked Drumlets With Kiwifruit, Spicy Penne with Salmon and Kiwifruit plus Lemongrass Jelly with Kiwifruits

I am sure those of you who has being following my threads on the various social media platforms (such as facebook, twitter and instagram) would have been seeing me updating a lot of "kiwifruits" related posts for the past one week. (so sorry if I have "spam" some of your timelines :p ) As you have read from my previous post(s), this year I am taking up the "Zespri® 14 days Daily Scoop of Amazing Challenge (#14daysofZespri)" to test out how creative I can work with these "fuzzy brown fruits" to incorporate them into our daily diet.

So over the past weekend, I have come out with a 4 Course Kiwi-licious Menu starting with:- Apple, Kiwifruit And Mint Smoothie, Baked Drumlets With Kiwifruit And Mint, Spicy Penne With Salmon And Kiwifruit follow by a refreshing Lemongrass Kiwifruits Konnyaku Jelly for dessert. In this post, I would be sharing the first 3 recipes whereas for the Lemongrass Jelly it would be featured in another post.

Zespri Kiwifruit Yoghurt Parfait

Today is 7th day of my "Zespri® 14 days Daily Scoop of Amazing Challenge (#14daysofZespri)" and it feels really wonderful and amazing on how these "brown fuzzy fruits" could actually benefit our health and improve our daily intake of Vitamin C and etc.

And as you probably will know Yoghurt is nutritionally rich in protein, calcium and etc so by making a dessert using yoghurt and kiwifruit is definitely a awesome choice as it has all the goodness in a cup. So rather than using "cream cheese" plus yoghurt to make the parfait, I have omitted the cream cheese and used only yoghurt and kiwifruit for a lighter and healthier dessert.

KIWIFRUIT YOGHURT PARFAIT

This quick and simple recipe can also be prepared a few hours ahead and served after meal. And you don't have any "kiwifruit jam" (recipe HERE) you can replaced it with some honey or store bought blueberry jam which taste equally good too.

(Makes : 3 | Preparation: 10 minutes | )

Ingredients:
6 Pieces Digestive Biscuits
1 Zesperi® Gold/Green Kiwifruit
250ml Vanilla/Plain Yoghurt
Some Kiwifruit Jam/Compote

Method:-

1. Place the digestive biscuits in a ziplock bag and crashed it coarsely with a rolling pin or glass bottle.

2. Peeled the skin of the kiwifruit and sliced it to  about 0.5cm thick (6 - 8 slices).  

3.To assemble the yoghurt parfait, place some crushed digestive biscuits on the bottom of the serving cups.

4. Spoon in 1 tablespoon of yoghurt, top with a slice of kiwiwfruit, another spoonful of youghurt follow by a teaspoon of kiwifruit jam on it.

5. Lastly top with some youghurt and another slices of kiwifruit on top as garnish and serve.

After sharing this quick and healthy dessert over the Social media platform such as Instargam and Facebook, it did received quiet a number of "Likes" and "Comments" too.

Other than using Kiwifruits to make the "Yoghurt Parfait" shown above, you can also cut it into cubes and mix with some canned fruits such as Longan, Lychee or Fruit cocktails and served it as a refreshing after meal dessert. My this version was inspired by Keropokman's "Longan Dessert", I added some mixture of cubed Zesperi® Gold/Green Kiwifruit which gives it twist to contrast the sweet and sour flavour kiwifruits and Longan in syrup (Instagram photo HERE).

For more interesting recipes using Kiwifruit, you can visit their website @ http://www.zespri.com.sg/