Lemon Yoghurt Cake

Lemon is one of the most highly alkalinizing foods that are native to tropical Asia. The best lemons have skin of an oily, fine texture and are heavy for their size. This type is more apt to be full of juice, with a minimum of seeds and waste fibers. Choose lemons of a deep yellow color for ripeness and juice. They should be firm, but not hard, to the touch. Fresh lemon juice is an outstanding source of vitamin C.

So for today's afternoon tea we will be having something that is light and fragrant. How was a mouth watering Lemon Yoghurt Cake. It's very moist and soft to taste especially with it lemon fragrant that make you feel fresh together with a cup of tea.

Ingredients:
150g Butter
1 Cup Caster Sugar
2 Medium Size Eggs
1/2 Cup Fresh Milk
1/2 Cup Thick Plain Yoghurt
4 Tablespoons Lemon Juice
1 1/2 Tablespoons Grated Lemon Rind
2 1/2 Cup Self-Raising Flour
1/2 Teaspoon Baking Soda

Lemon Syrup:
1/3 Cup Sugar
1/2 Cup Water
4 Tablespoons Lemon Juice
Rind Of 1 Lemon Cut into thin strips

Methods:
1. Sift flour and baking soda in a big mixing bowl and set aside for later use.
2. Place butter and sugar in a bowl and beat on medium speed until light and creamy.
3. Add eggs one at a time and beat until well combined.
4. Stir in yoghurt, lemon juice, lemon rind, flour mixture and milk into the butter mixture slowly till combined.
5. Spoon mixture into a greased 9" cake tine and bake in a preheated 180 degree oven for 45 minutes or until cake is cooked when tested with a skewer.
6. To make the lemon syrup, place all the ingredients in a small saucepan, stirring over low heat until sugar dissolved.
7. Allow to simmer for 4-5 minutes, then immediately pour syrup over the cake which is just out from the oven and still in the cake tin.
8. Let the cake stand in the tin for 5 minutes then cut and serve it with extra yoghurt and fresh fruits.

Note: You can replace the yoghurt with fresh milk for a smooth and moist texture of cake. Or you can replace the 1/2 cup of milk with yoghurt instead.

Mango Kaffir Lime Sorbet

This is the Kaffir Lime Leave that most Thai Food used. If you remember well, I had used this leave for one of poultry dish called "Kaffir Lime Leave Chicken" which infused a very special fragrant to the dish. You can get it from most supermarket or those Malay vegetable stalls in the local wet market.

This time, instead of using this leave for cooking, we are actually using it's fragrant to make a sugar syrup for the sobert. You may wonder... Err... is it nice? I can tell you, it is..... and indeed it's a very fragrant and refreshing dessert.....

The process of making a sorbet is rather easy but time consuming.. Because you need to break the ice from time to time in order for it to be smooth. Sobert is a frozen dessert made from iced fruit puree and other ingredients. The term "sherbet" is derived from the Turkish word for "sorbet". Sorbet is a form of gelato that contains no milk, unlike ice cream. Sorbets may contain alcohol (which lowers the freezing temperature, resulting in a softer sorbet). Sorbets are traditionally served between the starter course and main course in order to cleanse the palate before the main course.

These Mango Kaffir Lime Sorbet tastes fantastic when you sever it with some extra freshly cubes mango, laychee and drizzle over some Kaffir Lime Syrup......... And again... thanks Tracy for introducing me this wonderful and easy to make dessert.

Ingredients:
100g Caster Sugar
1 .5 Cup Water
6 - 8 Single Kaffir Lime Leaves
2 Mangoes, skinned and cut into slices

Methods:
1. Wash the kaffir lime leaves and tear into small pieces and put everything together in a pot with the sugar and 1.5 cups of water.
2. Bring to boil and stir till all the sugar dissolves then cool and chill overnight in the fridge before use. (Discard the leaves before chill)
3. Reserved 1/2 Cup of the chilled syrup and mix the rest with the mango slices and blend in a food processor until well mixed.
4. Pour the mango puree into a shallow tub or baking tin.
5. Leave it in the freezer for a couple of hours until ice begins to form around the edges.
6. Remove from freezer and use a folk or handheld mixer, whisk thoroughly to break up the ice-crystals.
7. Do this two to three times more at hourly intervals, then transfer the mixture to an air-tight container and allow to freeze solid.
8. Just before serving, scoop the mango sobert to a cup and top with extra diced mango, some fresh lychee and drizzle with some extra kaffir lime syrup.

Chicken & Fresh Coconut Soup

This is my 1st time using Fresh Coconut to stew soup. So far, I had only used coconut milk and shredded coconut for making curry, dessert and keuh. Until recently I saw a few cookbooks have different recipes on Coconut Soup so I mix and match and come up with this version of my own.

Coconut(椰子肉): It is good for good for strengthens the Lungs and nourishes the Qi. So it's actually a great soup for the whole family. Saw from the News a few days ago that actually eating more coconut or using coconut oil in cooking are good for health. When you cooking this soup, you can actually smells the coconut fragrant all around the kitchen. And as you drink the soup slightly warm, you can also taste the sweetness and fragrant of the coconut in between your teethes.


Fox Nuts(茨实): It supplement the internal organs, strengthen Qi, nourish and strengthen the body. They also benefit the kidneys, promote the replenishment of Jin, tonify the Spleen and stop diarrhoea. They are effective in healing indigestion, diarrhoea, poor bladder control and leucorrhoea.

Ingredients:
4 Slices Of Bei Qi北耆
1 Tablespoons Of Gou Qi Zi, 枸杞子
8 Red Dates红枣, remove seeds
1 Small Portion Of Fresh Huai Shan, cut into sections
1/2 Fresh Coconut(椰子肉), cut into slices
3 Chicken Drumstick/Half Chicken
50g Fox Nuts(茨实)
1.5 Litres Water

Methods:
1. Wash and trim the fat of the chicken, scald in boiling water and rinse with cold water, drain.
2. Wash Bei Qi, Gou Qi Zi, huai shan red dates, fox nuts and coconut flesh and set aside.
3. Bring the water to the boil and put all ingredients in.
4. Bring to boil again for about 10 minutes, turn to low heat and simmer for 3 hours at Low heat in a slow cooker.
5. Season with salt and serve.

Notes: You can get fresh coconut at those Indian stall that selling grated fresh coconut. Ask them to remove the dark skin then cut into pieces.

Steam Durian Tapioca Kueh

Another Durian Recipe coming out from Cuisine Paradise Kitchen's........ This Steam Durian Tapioca Kueh is made together by me and my mum for my relatives who loves this. It's pretty straight forward steps and ingredients and all you need is grated, mixed and steam then you will have your nicely fragrant durian kueh coated with fresh grated coconut........

This is for a chance, because we always had those colourful triangle steam tapioca kueh coated with shredded coconut. So maybe you will like to try out this which had a mixture of tapioca and durian instead.

Filling Ingredients:
600g Grated Tapioca
30g Wheat Starch
100g Durian Flesh
150ml Coconut Milk
140g Sugar
1/2 Teaspoon Salt

Coconut Coating:
200g - 250g Fresh Grated Coconut
1/4 - 1/2 Teaspoon Salt

Methods:
1. Grease an 7" Square baking tin and line with banana leaves.
2. Combine all Filling ingredients and mix well.
3. Pour mixture into baking tin, place in a steamer and steam on medium heat for 45 minutes or until done. Remove and set aside to cool.
4. Mix grated coconut with salt and steam over high heat for 5 minutes.
5. Cut durian tapioca cake into small slices and coat with steamed grated coconut or you can pan-fry the cut slices with some oil.